Just a normal lunchtime reloaded
by Z.C.A
Summary: What would you do if you swore you could hear Itachi's voice inside your head? What do you think would happen if the Akatsuki turned up naked in a parallel universe surrounded by school girls? How will our favourite villains get home this time...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own my friends, nor do I have the utmost full permission of my friends for using their names (and actions). Heh Heh I'm evil like that! Well I do have 3 of their permissions. **

**Tobi: stop rambling and get on with the story Zo-Chan!**

**Zo: Sorry Tobi XD**

**Tobi: That's okay. Tobi is a good boy!**

**Zo: Yes. Yes you are Tobi! Begin!**

…

"Hiiiiiiiiiiyyyaa!" Baxter yelled as she glomped heavily onto my back.

"Argh help me!" I screeched, grabbing onto the nearest arm, it was Ashleigh's. Baxter dragged me down onto the wooden bench outside the school. It was lunchtime and so far it was fairly normal. Ashleigh groaned and after a half-hearted attempt at prying Baxter off me, gave up and sat on the bench next to me, still being attacked by Baxter who was now biting my shoulder. Like I said, normal lunchtime.

Macin came around the corner and spotted our current situation, remarking with something sarcastic with a raised eyebrow, before plonking down on the opposite bench, followed by the tall blonde, wavy-haired Brooksey.

"Um…help?" I pleaded but received little but a gesture from them. Baxter giggled manically at me. Emma bounded over, her long orange (its light auburn!)*sigh* hair swaying as she bobbed up and down excitedly.

"I get to go home to Aussie for the holidays! OMG!" Baxter detached herself from me in favour of the hug-o-phobic ginga (AUBURN!) Aussie.

I laughed…lunch was the one crazy, hectic time of the day I looked forward to. Then Aimee-Leigh screeched and face-planted the middle of our circle before saying, "Hay," seductively and curling up in the fetal position. She was a weirdo and also had a hard punch thanks to her mental karate lessons but she was entertaining none-the-less.

Mel was behind her, "Hey Zoe!" she smiled and waved a rudely fingered hand before laughing loudly, she was fairly normal for a midget. (Lmao)

She sat down and poked excitedly at a cookie before looking at my super puppy dog eyes and giving in. My eyes lit up when she chucked the cookie at me. She hated anything edible…except hot chocolates they were her only weakness. Chewing, I turned to Ashleigh, "Any good stuff on FanFic lately?"

She gave a shrug… "Oh wait there was this epic one about the Akatsuki going to the supermarket…-" she started replaying it as we cracked up (for reference I won't go into more detail…read it yourself!) for the millionth time at Zetsu rolling in the vegetable section.

"The Akatsuki are so bloody funny!" Ashleigh nodded. And it was at that moment I came up with a seemingly harmless idea. "We should name our friends after the Akatsuki!" Eyes lit up next to me, "Shot being Hidan, Fuck yeah!" she laughed, taking on the swearing role with ease. "Nu-uh! Deidara forever!" I bagsed it. Then began the naming.

In our group we had, Aimee-Leigh, Mel, Ashleigh, Brooksey, Macin, Baxter (they are all called Rachel so the weird names are last name nick names) Amber, Zoe M, me (Zoe A), Gina, Ty and Emma. After a week of tossing and turning we had the names.

Aimee-Leigh= Orochimaru

Mel =Tobi

Ashleigh = Hidan (of course)

Brooksey= Kisame

Macin= Sasori

Baxter= Zetsu

Amber= Black Hidan (see other FanFic)

Zoe M= Pein

Me=Deidara

Gina=Konan

Ty=Itachi

Emma= Kakuzu

(You will see that their personalities were considered carefully before choosing in the near future!)

…3 days later…..

"Hey Zetsu, un!" (I had started taking on my role with the grunts that Dei used after most sentences) I yelled across the courtyard at Baxter.

"Why is it I'm called Zetsu again?" she complained.

"It's simple, Zetsu is cannibalistic and likes plants along with being a plant himself, so naturally you biting people and being a plant lover, member of the greenhouse and environmentalist makes you the perfect choice!"

She stared at me blankly before her face went back to excited and mental, "Sweet as!" she laughed before springing away to annoy '_Orochimaru'_, tugging at the karate goers long dark-brown hair (she even has the same hair as Orochimaru!). Hidan sat listening to 'her' iPod boredly while Kisame (Brooksey) and Sasori (Macin) poked her back while naming several different brands of car. Her will power not to snap off their heads was impressive.

"Hey," _Itachi_ sat down beside me before exploring the insides of a book for the next hour, her short spiky (I'm not even joking its seriously similar) black hair quivering in the wind slightly. Black Hidan and Pein sat down next to each other and started talking about random things and ate their lunch… boring, I gave an inwards sigh. Then I saw Tobi, I decided that Tobi should start being more like 'him'.

"Hey Tobi, un, speak in 3rd person for me will ya?" I asked, she gave me a funny look before her eyes widened and she started putting on a creepy accent that sounded a lot like Orochimaru gargling woodchips.

"Tobi doesn't want to speak in 3rd person! Like that?"

"Wonderful, but seriously kid loose the accent, its creepy," I added.

"Whaaaat? No way! And I'm not kid I'm TOBI!" she groaned in the accent again. I sighed before averting my look away from her with a roll of my eyes. _Kakuzu_ was fidgeting on the ground saying, "28 days! 28 days! Yay Aussy!" I lolled internally. She started showing her week's worth of colourful pictures to everyone. We learn so much at this school…not. The shy straight-as-a-stick blonde-haired Konan was sitting quietly eating a sandwich next to the curly Streaked blonde, Pein; she never left Pein's side…ever. The crazy Zetsu (hair in a bun with real flowers because she just loved them so much she had to have them with her where ever she went) however seemed intent on continuing yesterdays assault by pinning herself to the short and spiky purple-haired Deidara (me) and not letting me eat my lunch.

(As I said the names are based on personality, not looks!)

I decided on a peace offering, another (bought) chocolate cookie before she gave in and finally let go to nom on the chocolately goodness. After she finished the cookie she decided to grab Ashleigh's wrist harshly and didn't let go for the next hour much to Ashleigh's disappointment.

"Get the fuck off me, bitch!" she attempted her character. Poor Zetsu looked shocked at first but didn't let go. In case you hadn't realised, most of our friends hadn't seen Naruto so had no idea why Ashleigh was swearing (as she didn't swear that often) and didn't know any of the characters well. So naturally I burst out laughing after letting Zetsu (and the others that listened in) in on the secret. Zetsu started chewing Ashleigh's arm now, and Ashleigh rolled her eyes, "And I nearly had her _off_ me too, _Jashin_ curse you _Dei_-_Chan_!"

I decided to set some homework for my uneducated friends, (Except Ashleigh because she actually was educated in Naruto ways almost more than me) "Go home tonight and look up Akatsuki on YouTube, un… seriously it would do you well, un." They accepted with a groan, though I had no idea why they would listen to me and do it anyway. "Plus we wouldn't be explaining it to them every second," Ashleigh added before turning back to her iPod. I smirked.

The next day ( I have decided that there will be no school and only lunchtime at this school, it's awesome, yeah?) we sat down for lunch and everyone was talking about the Akatsuki, instead of Black Hidan, Pein and Konan talking about random things they were discussing the coolest video they saw of 'themselves' that night. Tobi was constantly talking in 3rd person, "Deidara _Sempai_ is your art really a rip off? Is Tobi a good boy?" I sighed, so this was how Dei felt? I understood why Tobi was always getting on his nerves now, who cares if he was a criminal mastermind behind that mask.

Ashleigh was normal and sat at the bench boredly watching anime (Full Metal Alchemist FYI XD). Kakuzu had refused to watch the videos after getting past the first one; she officially hated being Kakuzu… (I wonder why?) Orochimaru was depressed and complained about being the pedophilic snake creep, she would rather have been Alex Rider but I seriously couldn't see him as a member of the Akatsuki… Kisame was running around wielding her invisible, nonexistent shredding sword and wishing she was a shark. Sasori was trying to make puppets by drawing eyes on her fingers and talking in a weird voice. Itachi was over excited and tattling into my ear about the next episode of Shippuden, (she had ended up not sleeping and running out of memory by watching all of the videos online that night…typical Uchiha). Zetsu was even more into biting and was running around with a flower in her mouth, humming 'The sun will come out tomorrow' from Annie. I rolled my eyes at the madness.

I took a bite of my Choc Hazelnut spread sandwich and sat there feeling pleased with my creations. I was guessing this was what Frankenstein's creator felt like after creating life, fucking mad evil scientist that he was. After a long day of utter craziness we finally resigned ourselves to going home.

Sasori was getting ready for bed, it was 9.30pm. She had been screamed at earlier by her mum for not drying the dishes and she was pooped, her head thudding. She sat in bed drawing one of her famous cartoons when a panicked drowsiness came over her and her eyelids fluttered shut.

Orochimaru was texting her "guy friend" that night and was in the middle of a text when she suddenly felt a heavy, daunting tiredness and dropped her head to her pillow. It was 9.30pm.

Meanwhile at the same time Black Hidan was watching TV when the same thing happened to her and she passed out on the couch, her dad just shrugged and went to bed. She slept on the couch all night. It was 9.31pm.

Konan was busy doing the chores like a good girl and sorting her notes for the upcoming exam. (On how to eat lunch effectively seeing as this is a lunch based school). She was walking down the hall when she fainted. Her mother gasped and carried her to bed, assuming she was stressed from all the work she was doing. 9.33pm.

Pein was busy texting a friend from school in bed and after a heated argument over whether or not purple was the best nail polish colour ( Itachi says YES!) she fell asleep seemingly normally but with a terrifying feeling. 9.35pm.

Itachi was brushing out her short hair in her room, she had just taken off her glasses when she decided curling up on her carpeted floor in a shivering ball shape was a great idea, and she slowly closed her eyes. 9.37pm.

Kisame was reading a story about planes. She was determined to become a pilot. This was when she decided that flying must be a lot like gliding through the ocean. Being a shark would be awesome. She blacked out with this thought in mind at 9.40pm.

Zetsu was placing flowers around her room and spraying Jasmine oil when she got dizzy and scared from what she thought was the fumes and fell on her bed with a thump. That was also 9.40pm

Tobi sighed and poked at her cold dinner. She told her mum she was going to bed. As she entered her room and got into bed she tossed and turned, Tobi is a good boy played over in her mind. She couldn't wait for school tomorrow. Suddenly something started pulling her under into blackness. 9.45pm.

Kakuzu was annoying her sisters by poking them and shouting remarks about getting to go back to Australia to see her friends. Her mum ticked her off and she headed to her room, sulking. Before she got to her room she looked down the stairwell and started seeing a dark hole at the bottom. Mesmerized she plummeted towards it down the stairs and she felt like she had disappeared. 9.46pm.

Hidan lay on her bed watching Naruto on her iPod, laughing at Hidan the character as he swore. Her sister was playing music loudly in the other room. She sighed then her vision blurred and she started to panic. She wasn't tired but she instantly lost consciousness.

I was sitting typing a story for Fan Fiction in bed when I started feeling a tug at the back of my mind. It felt cold and dark, empty. I didn't want to enter the void but it came up from in my mind and devoured me. My mind flashed to the faces of my friends and of their Akatsuki counterparts. Last of all I saw Deidara's face staring at me through what seemed like thick glass before it disappeared completely and I was lost to the world.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, Sorry about the wait. I have had exams and am still having them the next three weeks but I will try to type as much as I can!

**Tobi: Zo-Chan please stop apologising!**

**But tobi…**

**Tobi: Tobi wants you to keep telling the story!**

**Fine…**

…

My head thudded once. No, wait make that twice. My eyelids fluttered open. I realised I could see. Everything was hazy though, thick blue fog that covered my eyes like a veil. It was fairly dark too, I felt around me for the fabric of my sheets only to find none. The sun started coming up over the horizon line that seemed to be the only landmark in this cloudy blue land. Figures emerged looking anxious and worried. I realised it was my friends.

"Hey guys! Over here," I yelled but they didn't hear me and I watched as (going back to their normal names in the confusion) Ty and Emma walked through each other and shivered as cold trails of smoke came off of them.

This was too freaky to be real; it must have been a dream. I couldn't remember anything since school earlier that day, or night, I could even tell the time here.

"Zoe? What's going on?" a confused voice came from behind me. I turned around to see Ashleigh walking towards me. At least someone could see me.

"I don't know, why can't anybody hear us? Why can I only talk to you?" I asked, my voice sounded oddly muffled.

"Hell if I know," she walked over to the vacant form of Macin and swished her hand through her torso. "Creepy much?"

That was when I heard the voice. "What the hell, un?" I turned around. "Did you hear that?" Ashleigh gave me a raised eyebrow in response. Then her eyes widened. I figured she had heard it too. 'Get out of my head!' I thought towards the voice. 'I don't know how, un!' it shouted back into my mind. Ouch I thought as the slight headache reverberated in my skull. 'Shut up! Now where the fuck am I?'

'Don't ask me, I don't know, un.'

'Nobody fricking knows!'

This was getting on my nerves.

Ashleigh tugged on my arm, "Can you hear him, why is he swearing at me? Stop shouting!" she yelled.

"Ouch," I wiggled a thumb in my ringing ear. "He _isn't_ swearing, _he_ doesn't know where we are either. Who are _you_ hearing?" I gave her I slightly mental look.

She shook her head.

"Argh there is a creepy man in my heeeaaaddd! Argh, now he is friendly!" Mel screamed and we turned to see that the smoke had cleared and our friends all lay on the ground moaning or clutching their heads in the orange sunlight glow.

"Ow ow get outta my head would ya!" Amber grizzled, "You can't eat me from the inside!"

Baxter had her head tilted to the side and was whispering things, "Yes, mmk biting people is fun too, yeah…"

I gave Ashleigh a WTF look.

"Hehe yeah, you make origami, I love origami!" Gina was prattling away to herself.

"…." Aimee-Leigh's eyes were wide and she was rocking back and forth beside a now visible tree.

"Uhuh, yeah that makes sense." Ty came over to us looking fairly normal. "Well apparently there was a mix up in the Ninja World," she started.

"What? The? Fuck?" Ash and I synced.

"Um… Not that you would believe me but, Itachi Uchiha is in my head, like _talking_ to me, _now_."

"So the person in my head is… Deidara?" I stared at her in disbelief. 'I am still here ya know, un.' He added to my annoyance. 'Then shut up already' I thought back at him. He was getting on my nerves, it was my freaking head! I didn't care if he was Akatsuki or not. 'Stupid fricking females' he muttered. I internally glared at him.

"Yes, probably. It seems that the people you named us after are the ones in our heads now." She glanced between Ashleigh and I. I gulped and gave a slight laugh at her stare, "Hehe, Sorry."

"So that means…" Ashleigh looked worriedly at the traumatised A-L (Aimee-Leigh).

'That poor girl,' I thought. 'Well go help her then, baka, un.' Deidara patronised me.

*sigh* I jogged over to A-L and poked her arm. She shuddered, "Get out of A-L's head you creepy snake pedo!" I screeched in her ear. Aimee-Leigh's eyes doubled in size and she whispered, "He said no but he stopped putting pictures in my head, those poor little boys…"

'I always knew he was a true sicko!' Deidara added. I shuddered in agreement.

Then A-L started giggling, "I know! Snakes are so cool!"

"Something tells me they are going to be great friends," Ashleigh and Ty nodded.

"Gina seems to be getting on with Konan well," Emma came over. "Oh hey Emma how's…Kakuzu?" I asked.

"Pretty placid to be honest, not that bad."

"Figures that she gets the quiet one," muttered Ash from next to me. *sighed again*

"What happened then?" I asked Ty.

"Apparently Orochimaru was trying to kill the Akatsuki and ended up mixing his killer poison with Zetsu's newest breed of plant. That plus Kakashi came along and opened up a black hole, those unfortunate events put together landed us in your heads in this world," Itachi's voice emitted from Ty. It was creepy to say the least.

"Let me get this straight." Ash started from beside me, visibly shuddering at the sound of Itachi's voice. "Hidan is running his mouth off inside my mind because of poison, Zetsu's plants and a black hole?" Ty nodded, though whether it was actually her or Itachi it was now hard to tell.

"That…" I turned to look over at A-L, who was still huddled in a ball on the ground, alternating between laughter spasms and making distressed noises. "I'm not sure if I should be happy or angry that a third of the problem is still with us."

Amber slowly climbed to her feet, looking extraordinarily angry as Ash ran over to help her. I guess the Hidan's have to stick together or something like that. 'Hidan's, un?' I rolled my eyes, not bothering to answer him this time. Ashleigh had a small smile on her face as she watched Baxter talking to herself, or technically, talking to Zetsu.

Ashleigh's P.O.V

I wrapped one of Amber's arms across my shoulders as I helped her stand. She seemed to be having an especially hard time getting over the fact that she had a voice inside her head, not to mention she had barely ever watched Naruto, so she couldn't even understand why it was acting the way it was. The voice in my own head wasn't any more helpful. Still, it was entertaining while it was annoying.

"Stupid Orochimaru." I muttered under my breath, tensing as Amber gave me a confused look, having at least registered by now that A-L was Orochimaru, even if she couldn't remember who anyone else was. I was starting to regret letting Zoe name A-L Orochimaru, since she really didn't need any encouragement from the snake man in order to be annoying. She could be pretty good at that when she wanted to be without his influence.

"Ashleigh, can I eat you?" A voice whispered from behind me, causing me to jump nearly a foot in the air and at the same time accidentally shove Amber back to the ground. It was Baxter, or Zetsu, or someone. I couldn't be totally sure, since Baxter liked to bite people anyway.

"Uhh… no thanks." 'Oi why can't I fucking see anything?' 'Would you just shut your fucking mouth for one minute? I'm trying not to get eaten here.' I backed up, trying to avoid Baxter's arms since I knew if she grabbed me then I was as good as dead, but in my attempt to escape I ended up tripping over Amber's legs and landing heavily on the ground.

"Shit! Hidan, you're throwing me off balance!" 'How is that my fault bitch? You're just a klutz.' I was about to get up, but then something that Itachi had said popped back to the front of my mind. It was partially Zetsu's fault that Hidan was swearing like crazy inside my head. Not that I could do anything about it now.

Regular P.O.V

Judging from the angry screaming and yelling Ash was having an argument with Hidan, and Baxter had that crazy glint in her eyes as she walked over to where Amber and Ash were piled on the ground. Gina was being… well she was being surprisingly normal, but maybe her and Konan were just more compatible than I had thought when I had given her that name. They certainly weren't arguing anyway.

Brooksey was a different story. I think she was helping Kisame figure out where his samehada was. I really hoped that they would never find it. Brooksey with a sword was something I'd rather avoid seeing if I could help it.

"Melissa is a good girl." Was Tobi trying to coach Mel into talking in third person? On second thought I didn't really want to know. Zoe M was being awfully quiet, but then I remembered who it was that she had inside her head. Pein was NOT going to be happy with our situation. Thinking about what might be going through her head, literally, I turned to find Macin talking to herself, totally care-free. I could have sworn I heard something about paper… No, I didn't want to know what they were on about either.

"Someone get Zetsu off me!" Ash screamed, trying to land a kick on Baxter who had latched onto her arm. Although I was sure Baxter wouldn't actually eat her you could never be too cautious, so I hightailed it over to help fend her off.

'Why is she calling that girl Zetsu, un?' I clenched my teeth together. 'Do you really have to ask?' I shot back at him, irritated. The whole voice in my head thing was giving me a MASSIVE headache.

'Sorryyy, un. Just took me a minute that's all, stupid Orochimaru, Wait till i- Argh my hands! My beautiful hands I can't make bombs,un!' Deidara complained loudly. I wondered if anyone else was getting headaches this bad.

Kicking Baxter in the face (heh I had always wanted to do that) I helped up Amber with Ashleigh's help and we went over to Zoe M. better to face Pein sooner rather than later.

Ty was talking to Zoe M when we arrived, A-L was now standing next to Baxter giggling manically at her while she rubbed her red face. Brooksy/Kisame had apparently found his samehada in the nearby bushes and was running around yelling something about salt water. I shook my head at her and spoke up.

"So I guess Itachi has told you everything then,"

Zoe/Pein nodded solemly, "Yes I know, Can we dispose of the Orochimaru host then?" Pein asked through gritted teeth.

"Ah… um well we can't really kill her, she is our friend but maybe—CRACK!

A large split opened up in the air and Out jumped a spectacled man with an angry look. "Orochimaru-Sama!" It was Kabuto.

"What the hell, un!" Deidara had gained control of mouth it seemed. 'Stop using my voice!' I screeched internally at him.

"Kabuto!" A-L's voice hissed out in an Orochimaru tone. Kabuto leapt over to Aimee-Leigh and dragged her through the split in worlds with a scream. There was a glimpse of colour before it sealed away.

"Aimee-Leigh!" Mel cried, she was one of the closer friends of A-L's along with Baxter who was standing, mouth agape looking at where the portal had vanished moments earlier.

"Well that was random," Ashleigh stated. "Quick everyone, jump into this convenient portal I made with Itachi's help!" Pein/Zoe yelled.

The next thing I know we were leaping into a rip in the fabric of worlds and falling through pitch black. I couldn't help but let out a scream. 'Shut up, un.' Deidara added before everything fell away.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is chapter three as you can tell, I have been Co-writing with another author. (Many thanks to Dark Akuma Hunter) Thanks to everybody who has been reviewing, I really appreciate it. Review for another chapter and get yummy virtual cookies! (home made by Emma/Kakuzu!) **** great cooks!**

**Deidara: You are putting off writing Zoe, un.**

**No I'm not, I'm waiting for my creative juices to flow, duh!**

**Deidara: They aren't spontaneous? You lack art, un.**

**No I don't Dei! Stop being a meany or I will get Hidan to sacrifice you to Jashin!**

**Deidara: Hmph, whatever, un.**

**Begin!**

…**..**

Ashleigh's POV.

Let me tell you, when that stupid glasses wearing freak Kabuto came out of nowhere and kidnapped Aimee-Leigh I was pretty damn freaked out, and I don't exactly get freaked out easily back home. Then Itachi and Pein had the brilliant idea to send us all down an endless black portal. I HATE FALLING! I also happen to dislike dark places.

I have to admit, that if Hidan hadn't been inside my head I would have screamed like hell when we were falling down that black hole. Endless falling? I have enough dreams like that. Then when I opened my eyes, I was staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, earphones in, with my iPod on the pillow next to me.

"Okay, that was one pretty fucked up version of the falling dream. I am never going to fall asleep while watching Naruto ever again." Sitting up in bed I pulled out my earphones, turned off my iPod before it died completely, and checked the time on my cellphone. It was time for me to get up anyway, although for some reason I felt as though I hadn't slept at all.

Groaning internally I got dressed into my school uniform. It was a habit after all, and I did it without thinking. That is, until the complaints started.

'Why the fuck do you have to wear a skirt? Do you know how fucking weird that makes me feel?!' Hidan practically shouted inside my head.

"I have to wear a stupid fucking skirt because it's my bloody school uniform! And at least it's the winter uniform and not summer, 'cause that one's worse!" I yelled out loud, causing my sister to poke her head into my room, a questioning look in her face.

"Who are you swearing at Ash?" She asked, doing up the side buckle on her own uniform kilt. I glared at her, fumbling with my tie out of frustration.

"I was swearing at you; now get the fuck out of my room." She rolled her eyes and wandered off to the kitchen, which is where I headed after I had managed to put my tie on properly.

'Who's the little bitch huh?' Hidan was bugging me with annoying questions while I tried to eat my cocoa pops in peace. Luckily I had managed to refrain from swearing at him out loud again, because my mum would probably yell at me if I did.

'That's my little sister, and you can't call her a bitch, that's my job.'

"I can call her a bitch all I want." If I had been eating at that particular moment then I probably would have choked and died, but even so it was strange as hell to hear Hidan's voice coming out of my mouth.

'That is so not fucking cool man, give me back my voice!'

"Never! I want to swear at your sister some more!" I was fighting his presence so much that our voices had started to merge, and I dropped my half empty bowl of cocoa pops on the ground as I internally wrestled for control, ignoring the fact that mum was yelling at me and telling me to clean it up.

Normal POV.

I popped my eyes open, I was in my bed. At home. This was too freaky. That must have been the weirdest dream I had ever had, like, ever… in my entire life. Well not really I did once dream that giant veloceraptors took over my school and turned the teachers into- well, that's a whole different story.

Anyway, I groaned and got up, heading to the kitchen for some choc toast, (just 'cause it's the only way to have chocolate first thing in the morning!) Plonking myself down on the couch with a cup of hot chocky and toast in hand, I was just about to take a bite when-

'You really gonna have all of that chocolate first thing in the morning? Sweet, un!'

So basically I choked on my toast, sent hot chocolate flying across the room and hitting the flat screen TV, while the rest landed buttery side up on my school uniform.

"What the fuck?!" I screamed out loud much to my already furious mothers surprise, who sent her own toast at the now broken TV.

"Good gosh Zoe! What the fuck is wrong with you this morning? You're so jumpy!" She yelled and went to go get more toast. I guessed we would deal with the TV later.

'Why are you back inside my head?' I hissed at Deidara.

'When did I ever leave your head, un?' he pointed out, annoyed. I poked the side of my head roughly.

"Ouch," a Deidara/Zoe voice combined popped out of my mouth. Well that was weird, but a least I hurt him.

'How can I go to school with you in my head all day then, huh?'

'Well I could always give you answers, un?'

'Yeah right! You don't know anything about this world! Do you?'

'Well…'

'Deidara what are you not telling me?' I growled.

'We already knew about your world thanks to Orochimaru, un.'

'Really? How?'

'He made a device that was a replica of Kakashi's black hole but it turned out without the sucking ability he had hoped for and instead show pictures of your world, un.'

'That is just too weird'

'Agreed, let's go to school, un.'

***Time Skip***

I sighed and sat down on the bench outside school that morning, chucking my overly sized regulation school bag on the concrete. I lay down on the cold bench, I was still tired from last night's ordeal.

'You're seriously going to go to sleep out here, un? It's freezing!'

"Shhh Dei, I'm sleepy," I mumbled quietly.

'I'm dying of a cold induced coma here and all you can think about is sleep, un?'

'We come out here every day no matter the weather, so get over it!'

Deidara sighed, and his brain unconsciously controlled me, my teeth started chattering. I sat up, I couldn't sleep now. I wondered when everybody else would arrive at school; it was usually Mel first at about 7.30am then me at 8.00am. So where was she? I wondered.

'Probably dead, she _did_ have to deal with Tobi in her head,' Dei added.

"My thoughts, not yours! Get the fuck out!" I said aloud earning a strange look from a couple of passing gym teachers.

I smiled and gave them a wave. 'Smooth move, Zoe, un.'

'Ha bloody ha.'

"H-Hey..Zoe? Do you still have the…?" Mel surprised me by turning up right next to me, she looked terrified. She pointed to her head.

"Oh, the voices? Yeah Dei is still in my head, why? Is Tobi annoying you…or is he _you_ _know…"_

I knew from watching 'Naruto' in most of my spare time that Madara Uchiha was the delightfully annoying Tobi, however I realised that Mel hadn't seen much 'Naruto' other than the few video's she watched of Tobi. She had only just found out about Madara when we had mentioned him last week after naming her.

Mel nodded, looking slightly petrified. 'Shit so...wait a minute you know Tobi's identity, un?!'

'Um… fuck.' I had forgotten about Dei being able to hear what I was thinking. 'An _Uchiha_, un? _Great_!' Dei's voice was laced with sarcasm.

'God, I can't imagine what she is going through; he is pretty fucking evil you know?' I thought.

'Ha well every Uchiha has temperament issues, un.'

I laughed out loud and Mel gave me a half distracted weird look.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Zoe M and Amber came around the corner and sat down on the bench with us.

"Not much to be honest, Mel is having a hard time coping with _Tobi_ in her head." I grinned.

Mel was now rolling around on the ground with a strange look in her eye. 'You gonna help her, un?' I shrugged and then realised I must have looked like a person with a twitch.

It seemed that Deidara knew how to see through me now and use my body, crap. I guessed everyone else had gotten used to it now. Gina and Ashleigh were now here too, along with Ty, Baxter, Macin and a grumpy Emma.

We all started talking about our experiences. It seemed that Amber even though she was named Black Hidan had gotten Black Zetsu seeing as Black Hidan didn't actually exist.

"Um… guys, aren't we forgetting something… something like Aimee-Leigh?!" Ashleigh interrupted us.

"Ugh do we have to?" I asked and they looked at me, some with horror some with agreement.

Zoe M was just about to speak when pain flickered simultaneously through all of our minds. A few seconds later I was staring down at a naked Deidara, who was lying stunned on the ground. There were more unclothed Akatsuki members sitting in front of the others who looked even more stunned than I did.

"What the hell just happened?" Pein was picking up a nearby school bag and fishing out what seemed to be Mel's P.E gear and putting it on.

"Agreed." Emma chucked Pein a larger shirt. Hehehe they are both ginga. I laughed in my head as a dramatic 'ginga's untite!' theme song rang through my brain.

Itachi had Ty's blazer wrapped around him. "It seems as though Orochimaru has figured out how to escape from your friends head."

My mind instantly thought of Orochimaru naked…poor Aimee-Leigh.

"So we are out now too, uhn?" Dei stated.

"Great observation dumbass." He glared at me.

Hidan was still stark naked and swearing to Jashin before threatening to kill everyone and sacrifice their mother fucking asses to him. He was really pissed off and started trying to take Ashleigh's blazer which she reluctantly gave up before it got ripped (what? Those things are expensive.). I giggled inside my head. Poor ash, do I have to say it again? It was really fucking cold!

By now the other girls had followed Ty's lead and there were now 10 Akatsuki members clothed in either too-short shorts and t-shirts or a blazer that wrapped around their waists.

I didn't give a fuck but boy was I blushing. It's not every day you see your anime crush standing mostly naked in front of you. Oh and in case you hadn't realised who that was… Think Jashinist.

I glanced at Ashleigh who was staring at Sasori with a similar, if not more red, expression. I chuckled; this was her dream come true. Mel still looked fairly frightened by Tobi who was wearing a pair of shorts and running around saying, "Look I'm a lollypop!"

I will never know how the fuck a killer can act that way…

"It's cooooolllld." Kisame grumbled. Brooksey gave up her jersey to him and he looked slightly happier…wait? Can blue s-ranked criminals blush because I swear that is what I just fucking saw!

Rolling my eyes I glanced at the two Zestu's sitting next to each other in between Amber and Baxter. White Zetsu looked bored but Black Zetsu was looking…well…like he was about to kill and eat anyone who tried to look at him. I looked away before he saw me.

Pein slapped Tobi in the back of his head and Tobi moaned before sitting down on the ground in front of Mel, leaning on her legs. She kicked him, no surprise, and he looked moderately sad and resigned to sitting beside them.

Sasori noticed Ashleigh blushing and smirked before sitting down next to Hidan on the opposite bench to us. Kisame joined them. Konan and Gina were talking about shoes… I ignored them.

Zoe M kinda looked bored, "To be honest, I have a headache. I don't like Aimee-Leigh and now that Pein is outta my head, I'm going home. Bye." And with that she left. Gina and Konan followed her. "I like this world guys, they have a thing called 'Mall' that has clothes and things!" And Gina and Konan went to go shopping in town. We waved, slightly stunned.

Kakuzu and Macin were sitting next to each other and he was fretting over how much this would end up costing the organisation. Macin smacked him over the back of the head to calm him down. "Thanks." He gave her a slight smile before looking at me and then proceeding to glare angrily. Great.

Pein spoke up, "Now we have our bodies back we can go home then. Itachi," He gestured for the Uchiha to start preparing a portal.

"Wait!" Ty grabbed Itachi's arm. "We need to get our friend back!" Itachi sighed and stopped making the portal. Pein glared at the short haired girl.

"Fine."

Itachi started making the portal again and we all got ready to go into Konoha. I gulped and quickly glanced at Hidan. He grinned. I swore and jumped through the portal behind Emma and Pein.

And then there were 7.

Random Teacher named Miss Young who saw everything. P.O.V

They were sitting in their spot as usual, those girls. It was completely normal for them to be outside, even in this weather. I went to wave at them when all of a sudden a large group of naked men were on the ground in front of them. They seemed to have fallen out of the girls bodies. I nearly screamed. Then one of them looked at me. A man with Dark hair and red eyes, something calmed me down then. I walked inside dazed. I didn't remember much about that morning.

**Cool that's the third chapter. 3 reviews and I publish a new chapter is the rule. 3 reviews and you get chapter 4. XD **** I'm evil like that. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4! FINALLY! Thanks to the first three reviews, remember a minimum of 3 review for a new chapter! Any one got suggestions for pair-ups? Some I already have in mind but I can change things up if you want ;)

The first thing I realised when I opened my eyes was that a random person seemed to be on top of me. And they were fucking heavy.

I shoved the silver-haired Jashinist off me as best as I could (he seriously could lose a few pounds of muscle!) and blushed slightly, ignoring his smirk.

I looked at him and realised he was animated. I dared to glance down at myself.

My spiky purple hair had been accentuated as had my physique and fashion. I was wearing my favourite gothic black clothes that had been modified to a more ninja-style, and jewellery along with a pouch on my left leg equipped with kunai and shuriken. Hm..the clothes I might need to re-adjust but other than that…I looked good.

I stood up. I also had a long slightly curved sword strapped to my back…sweet, I thought.

I whipped it out of its sheath and grinned at Hidan.

"You're not fucking thinking of…?"

I swiped it at him, unfortunately he dodged.

"I am not your fucking practice dummy, bitch! Being immortal still hurts dammit!"

"Aww fine," I grizzled at the silver-haired criminal. I noticed the silver Jashinist necklace that hung from his neck.

What if I was wearing mine! I had made a gold one for a cosplay once and now it was one of my favourites, I always kept it hidden under my clothes though.

Hidan watched as I brought a hand to my neck and found the gold chain that slithered under my top, next to my black choker necklace that I cherished. I smiled and Hidan looked at me slightly suspiciously.

The others picked themselves off the ground from their own awkward squashed positions and I admired the anime version of each of them, we looked awesome.

…Ashleigh's POV…

Picking myself up off the ground I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Things were different than they had been in whatever strange in-between world we had landed ourselves in last time. Daring to glance around I noted Zoe's extremely spiky, vivid purple hair and random outfit change. In fact it didn't seem as though I was wearing my school uniform anymore either.

"Well this is different…" I commented drily as I examined myself. My usual reddish-brown hair that went half way down my back was now remarkably more… red. The good thing about the strange animated type look was that my hair was completely straight, as opposed to how it normally was. Reaching up to my neck I found that I was still wearing my necklace with the Celtic cross on it, which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief since it was my favourite piece of jewellery that I happened to own.

I was less happy about my new outfit. I was wearing my favourite pair of shoes, a pair of combat boots, but they had been rather, well, ninjafied, much to my disgust. Funnily enough I was wearing the t-shirt I had gotten from SeaWorld, but the sleeves had been ripped off to be replaced with long mesh sleeves that went down to my wrists. I was also wearing skin-tight black shorts that went down to just above my knees, which was the worst part of my new attire.

"Hey Zo-" I quickly dismissed my question as I saw her facing off with Hidan. There was no way that I was going to get in the middle of that in case he decided to take out his annoyance on me for being trapped in my body, even if it had only been for a short time.

"Hey Macin…doe…" I had to resist the urge to burst out laughing at the sight of my other friends in their newly acquired ninja attire. Turning around they all seemed to be in varying states of shock, or disgust. They didn't all seem to like their new clothes, but I couldn't blame them.

"Hey Ash how come your clothes are actually cool?" I spun to face Amber, confusion written across my face, but it disappeared when I saw her. She had been cursed with a rather Sakura-ish outfit; that is to say, she was the only one of us who was wearing a dress.

"Never mind that." I muttered, reaching behind me to straighten my hair. Instead my hand slammed into something. Grabbing it I found that I had a scroll strapped to my back, and I found myself wishing for a cool weapon like Zoe.

"Well, I guess now we've found Aimee-Leigh?" Brooksey spoke up, causing me to glance at her over my shoulder. Kisame was standing next to her; now thankfully back in his Akatsuki clothes.

"If only it were that easy." I reminded her as I began pacing, only to walk into someone and fall over. Not one of my best moments. Lifting my gaze I saw Sasori looking down at me, an amused expression on his face. I cringed and quickly climbed back to my feet.

Normal POV:

I laughed as Ashleigh awkwardly got back to her feet, to be honest Sasori looked like he was enjoying her embarrassment. I chuckled.

"What are you fucking laughing at, uhn?" Deidara, now cloaked in his Akatsuki wear, same as the other guys, had spotted me from his place next to Amber.

"Haha, none of your fucking business Blondy!" He glared at me. Heh I kinda felt bad for him, I had always tossed and turned over whether I liked Dei or Hidan better, but it was just so much fun to pick on the bomber.

Pein brushed himself off and leapt into the trees, signalling for us to follow. My friends and I groaned, physical exercise was never my thing but the Akatsuki guys did it on a daily basis. We were going to lag behind and slow them down. I hated being a nuisance.

And just to our luck, Baxter, after her first attempt at jumping into a massively tall tree, fell and bruised her ankle. We all stared as White Zetsu came up from the ground beside her and quickly helped her. I internally let out a fan girl scream; it was sooo cute to see Zetsu being kind!

"Heh, lucky," I muttered. Ash nodded in agreement. We kept going. Zetsu now carrying Baxter who was feeling embarrassed about having to need help from the plant man.

Amber took to the trees easily and was following Black Zetsu, while looking down at the branches passing under her. She kinda looked a bit down. I wanted to go ask her what was up but it seemed pointless to do so while travelling like this so I decided I would ask later.

Emma had taken on a very similar role to Pein I had noticed and she hadn't left his side since the came through the portal. The gingas' have gotta stick together as well I guessed.

Kakuzu and Macindoe/Macin were at the back near White Zetsu and seemed to be talking about something interesting. They kinda fitted nicely I thought, even if Macin had such a crazy imagination.

Brooksey had been given her own Shredding sword when she had been animated; it was gold though and matched her streaming, wavy hair. I once again swore that Kisame blushed while watching her. If anything Brooksey getting such a similar weapon to Kisame had to have meant something…

I glanced at the other girls. Amber's mid-length, straight hair was cropped into a dark blonde ponytail that extended from the base of her skull. Her weapon seemed to be a large ninja star shaped thing on her back.

Ashleigh only seemed to have a scroll…I wondered what animals she could summon?

Emma's long orange hair fell half way to her back and circled in a sharp cut line around her shoulders and her large amber eyes had been brightened. She matched Pein well.

Itachi and Ty were traveling alongside them. Ty's ultra-short black hair was sharpened into a jagged side fringe and spiked at the back with a long, thin, black stream of hair protruded from the centre of the spikes. Her obsidian eyes were large, as is anime style.

Macin had curly, beige hair that piled in a rough bun and stringed down in rivers from the top. Her eyes were strangely yellow and had dark highlights in them.

Baxter's long brown hair was twice as long and hung to her ankles, or Zetsu's knees currently. She had a tight bun filled with flowers at the top of her head and vines that trailed down and entwined with her straight, wood-brown hair.

Mel was in the centre of the group with Tobi. I hadn't noticed them before. Mel's hair was out and hung naturally at her shoulders, it was brown at the top and lightened to blonde at the tips.

She was wearing short-cut camo pants and long netted mesh covered her arms and neck, all the way up to her jawline. A black, sleeveless cameo sweater covered her torso. I smiled at her and she smiled back sarcastically and with a quick look at Tobi, went back to staring ahead.

Tobi hadn't left her side since he had gotten his body back, and literally seemed to have his shoulder glued to Mel's. He was being nice though, if not annoyingly so.

"Hn, we will have to discuss our plan of action at the base" Pein looked at Itachi knowingly.

"We can't let them see the location of the base yet, they are not entirely trustworthy and could be easily captured and interrogated."

Pein glanced at Emma and then a slight smile played his lips.

Itachi looked at him seriously, "I gather you have an idea leader-sama?"

Pein grinned, "Yes. I do."

We sat down at the clearing, Itachi had made a fire for us. It was nearing night-time and we were getting close to the base, but Baxter's ankle needed tending to and the rest of us were dead tired. We don't exercise this much in a day, ever!

Pein had been acting strange, going around and whispering to each of the guys.

Only the guys and not us. He even told Emma to stop following him.

Emma was pouting behind a log now.

Every time I watched him go around, he would whisper in the ear of them cunningly and then they would smile…well not so much smile as grin evilly.

I was very much afraid.

He was currently whispering into Hidan's ear.

Hidan nodded a couple of times before a mischievous smile danced across his lips.

He nodded again and looked at me. I quickly looked away, blushing from being caught spying.

I heard his voice, raised slightly, "Hm sounds like fun." With a wink, Pein moved on to Kisame and Sasori.

What the hell was going on here?!

Ash POV:

The scroll had been bugging me all day, and no matter how exhausted I was from the horrendous amount of exercise we had just done I was still going to find out what it contained. If it didn't have anything useful then I was going to be a deadweight when it came to long range fighting.

Still, I wasn't too keen on anyone else seeing what was inside the scroll at the current time, so it was rather convenient that the guys chose now to be involved in their own secretive conversations. Sitting cross legged on the grass with my back to the fire I carefully unravelled the scroll, expecting it to be for something stupid.

Breathing out slowly I fully unravelled the scroll, eyes swiftly travelling across the page. My green eyes widened in curiosity as I examined its contents, but I quickly rolled up the scroll once more when I heard footsteps approaching me. No-one else needed to know what it said just yet, although I was going to have to find somewhere private to instigate the summoning contracts…

Normal POV

Sneakily getting up, I avoided Hidan's stare and went and sat next to Ashleigh.

"Um…is it just me or are the guys seeming more and more crazy every second?"

She nodded.

"Pein is up to something…they all are."

"Hm."

"Let's just forget about it and hope it doesn't involve us?" Ash looked at me.

"It definitely involves us." I gulped.

Itachi started walking around with bread and milk for each of us "Here, hn." It was yummy, the milk was warm and frothy and the bread was surprisingly fresh and moist. I finished it off, along with everyone else.

Pein nodded to Emma.

"Night guys, time to sleep, we have an early start tomorrow," She yawned and fell asleep under the thin blankets Kakuzu had provided. They had cost us $9.99. I scowled and rejected the offer.

I slept closer to the fire to stay warm. I smiled, looking at Ty and Itachi. They were sleeping next to each, back to back. How cute, I thought.

Pein settled down next to Emma and Kakuzu for the night. Ashleigh and Sasori had already fallen asleep next to me. I grinned.

I was the only one awake, Kisame was snoring loudly.

Tobi was hugging Mel's back as she slept. Yikes.

Macin was with Amber on the other side of the campfire. Next to them were the two Zestsu's and Baxter.

I tossed and turned. I knew something sinister was afoot, but I just couldn't tell what.

One thing I was pretty sure of…it was going to end badly for us girls.

And then I fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 ….what was Pein up to last night…find out! What are everyone's special abilities and powers and how should they be put to the test… what is on Ashleigh's scroll? Is there something going on between the members of the group….WAH HEY STOP ADVERTISING MY FUCKING STORY TOBI!**

**AH! TOBI IS A GOOD BOY, TOBI IS SORRY!**

**You better be you lollypop-headed fuckwit! Ahh sorry about that guys.**

**BEGIN!**

I tried to move my arms and legs, but they were stuck in a warm vice-like grip.

I opened my eyes but everything was black…I couldn't feel a blind fold on me…was I blind?! What was going on?

"Hey get the fuck off me will ya!" The person holding me chuckled and I recognised his voice.

"Hidan, I know it's you! Put me down you stupid fucking Jashinist!"

"No, shut it bitch."

I struggled again, it seemed my feet and hands were bound by rope, this was not good.

I listened carefully, the sounds of whimpers and protests along with the muffled sound of footsteps echoed through the trees as we flew past them.

So I wasn't the only one.

"Ashleigh?" I heard a familiar voice close by.

"Zoe? What the hell is happening! Mph!" Her mouth was muffled. I let out a growl.

"Put me down Hidan or I swear I will fucking kill you!"

He laughed again as I struggled against the bonds. My sword was digging into my back softly. Damn, if only I could reach it!

Ashleigh's POV

I felt my hair slapping against my face and my eyes shot open, but all I could see was black. It sort of reminded me off all those criminal investigation shows I liked to watch on TV, about kidnappings and stuff, but there was no reason for anyone to kidnap us.

Convinced that my blindness was only temporary I attempted to move my arms, but they weren't responding, or at least they weren't doing what I wanted them to do. When I tried to move my legs they weren't working either. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath before swinging my legs back at the same time, only slightly surprised that they would move if they were moving in sync.

Unfortunately my feet only hit air as they moved back, leaving me none the wiser to my real situation. I cried out in alarm as I was jostled around, alarm turning to a muffled groan of pain as my scroll dug into my back, indicating that the person carrying me hadn't been impressed with my flying feet and had turned me over so that I was now on my back. My head was spinning, disorientated as I was.

I heard Zoe's voice calling out to me and I tried to turn my head in the direction that it had come from, but the wind whisked it away too soon, leaving me with nothing to go on.

"Zoe? What the hell is happening?!" I cried out, gagging slightly when I felt something in my mouth. They had gagged me, and that's when I got really angry. I hated it enough when someone touched my hair or my face, but gagging me? That was a line that should never have been crossed.

My back was protesting angrily as the scroll dug in uncomfortably every time we landed on a branch, for that had to be how we were moving considering all the up and down motion that was making me dizzy. I frowned around the gag, thinking out my options. I was shit at navigating in the dark, so escape was probably pointless, but that didn't mean that I couldn't give my carrier a piece of my mind.

Bracing myself I kicked out with my heels, knowing that this time they would go in the right direction to make contact. I muttered a curse as my back screamed out in pain, but I ignored it, grinning when I heard a grunt of annoyance.

"Calm down would you?" The voice was carried to my ears on the wind and I cringed, realising who it was that I had just kicked. Still, he had dared to tie me up like this and gag me, so a little kick wouldn't do him any harm.

"Why did you, mmph, have to gag me, hmm?" I managed to spit out around the gag, hoping that either it or my blindfold would be removed soon.

"Ash are you okay?"

"Guys what's happening?"

"This is different." I frowned again, no-one else sounded like they had speech impediments, so it was only me who had the misfortune of being gagged. I wasn't even the talkative one!

Then I heard the snoring, and I had to laugh in spite of my situation. Brooksey had never been one to sleep at the conventional moments, choosing to be different and sleep whenever she felt it was convenient…

Normal POV

Hearing someone snore while being kidnapped by people we thought we trusted could only mean that Brooksey was completely out of it. I sighed and heard chuckling from some others, including Hidan.

I was sore. Every jump was jamming the Katana sword on my back, harder and harder onto me. I winced at the pain; one thing I really hated was slow and dull pain.

After a minute or so of not moving, I felt Hidan's grip slack somewhat.

Flipping over suddenly so I was on my side, my katana now shifted, leaving my back aching. I sighed in relief.

Hidan held onto me tighter.

"Do you fucking mind? It was sore okay!"

He grumbled and released his grip ever so slightly.

"Mind telling me what the hell's going on here?"

"Not entirely, no."

That's when I got fucked off with him.

"You tie us all up, fucking blind us! And kidnap us and now you won't even fucking tell us why. You're so fucked up!"

Hidan gave me a swift punch in the ribs and I grimaced. "Mind shutting the fuck up, bitch? You have more of a mouth on you than I fucking do!"

I laughed and winced when my ribs reacted, a sharp pain emanating through my side. "Stupid mother fucker broke my ribs." I muttered.

He smirked.

My hands, I realised, were tied behind my back. I slid them both upwards slightly and felt the cool sheath of my sword covering the blade. I didn't show any emotion. Sliding the katana upwards slowly, Hidan's shoulder bumping my head on every landing, I managed to free the long blade and running my ropes over the blade, my hands were released.

I hated to do this to him. Hurting Hidan, even though he was immortal, would bring him pain. He would enjoy that too much, but oh well. Using my head and shoulder I pinched the handle and swung it in front of me, catching Hidan's face.

I heard him growl and I got the advantage long enough to grab my katana mid-air …and fall straight to the fucking ground. Damn…I forgot that I still couldn't see.

I felt for my face, definitely no blindfold. They planned this as a precautionary matter. Hmm…nice to know Pein thought we could escape long enough to get off a blind fold if we had one. Yet equally annoying.

I rolled over and stood, listening for any approaching thuds. The others were aware now, as I could hear exclamations above me as a large group of thuds landed up ahead. Great. I realised I wasn't going to get out of this without help.

My rib twanged again I fell to one knee. "Fuck you Hidan." I muttered angrily.

"Heh, shut up Bitch." Hidan attacked me front on. I heard him and swiped at him, hearing my katana hit flesh.

"Ah! Fuck, I will kill you bitchy mother fucker!" Hidan yelled. Then, mid-step, I felt my necklace fall out of my top. I didn't want anyone to know about my Jashin necklace, especially not this guy. I ducked down and tried to hide it.

I heard the laugh behind me too late. With a swift blow to the back of my head…and a nasty cut that ran across Hidan's body somewhere…I was out of it, my necklace safely tucked away again.

I was glad my katana had connected with that bastard's skin though.

Ash POV:

It sounded like a fight had broken out, and I was running through scenarios in my head. Considering I had never been in an actual fight before, let alone one that involved going in blind, it wasn't coming along very well. My mind was buzzing, so I put it to better use trying to figure out the reason for my gag while I tried to figure out how exactly I was tied up by moving bit by bit.

The only logical reason I could come up with for even bothering to gag me was to prevent me from trying any jutsu, but I didn't even know any! Unless they had somehow guessed the contents of my scroll… No, I had been especially careful not to let anyone see it, and I had even gone to sleep with it strapped securely to my back, which was where it still was.

Something in my mind sparked and I realised that I had figured out how to move my arms, just like I had figured out how to move my legs. It wasn't going to do me any good though, since I didn't have any means to cut the ropes. If I did then I could easily run away, even if I was blinded, but I wouldn't even be able to walk with the extent that my legs were tied.

"Why don't you go help Hidan?" I asked, slowly getting used to talking around the material. "I'm sure he could use some help. I'll just sit here like a good girl and wait." I wasn't even lying, I would just stay there. All I wanted was for him to put me down so that my back could have a rest from being constantly tortured. I even stopped struggling altogether as if to prove my point.

"He doesn't need my help." The puppet pointed out, in a voice that told me that he wouldn't help Hidan even if he DID need help. I rolled my eyes, clenching my teeth in annoyance as I swung myself into a sitting position on his shoulder. He stopped moving and I could feel his eyes on me. He was probably wondering how I had managed to get up. Flexibility wasn't usually my strong point, but a combination of gymnastics and a desire to save my back from destruction had taught my mind what to do.

"You might as well keep going then." I murmured irritably. "It's not like I'm going anywhere." He shrugged and I swayed, nearly falling over again. If he hadn't been holding onto my legs then I would have fallen off and injure my back even more than it already was.

We started moving again, neither of us talking at all. It would have been an awkward silence if it hadn't been for the whole abduction mood. Even though I was still technically being kidnapped, we were with the same people we had originally been travelling with, and I had a feeling that we were still going to the same place, so I was content to just sit back and let them do the running for us.

_Oh shit, that's right; they're going to be working us to the bone! I'm going to die! I knew I shouldn't have quit all those sports…_ As we continued to move my mind started plaguing me with thoughts of hard labour and excessive exercise, two things that I had a feeling I was going to have to adapt to, and fast.

After some amount of time that I couldn't figure out because I hadn't really been paying attention anymore we stopped moving once again. I cried out in shock, overbalancing and grunting in pain when he actually let me fall off, hitting the ground hard on my back, causing me to scream out. Something quickly clamped over my mouth, cutting off the sound of my scream. I shut my mouth and tried to fight back tears, since it almost felt as though something had shattered in my back. That wasn't possible though, I hadn't fallen from very high up.

When Sasori was convinced that I wasn't going to make any more noise he removed his hand, letting me go and standing up again. The sound of footsteps was quiet as he moved away from me, before another sound that I couldn't identify filled me ears. I was going to question it but then I felt myself leaving the ground again and I moaned, back aching fiercely as I was once again moved against my will.

As we moved it seemed to suddenly get colder, and I figured that we were no longer outside. He dropped me again and I opened my mouth in a silent scream, angry tears running down my face as I glared, unseeing, in the direction I thought he had gone in. I was severely pissed off, and in more pain than I had been in for years, all because of Aimee-Leigh. And although it was a bitter thing to be thinking, it really was her fault, for we wouldn't be here at all if she hadn't gone so willingly with Kabuto in the first place.

I rolled onto my stomach and closed my eyes, cheeks damp as I rested my face against the cool floor. There was nothing I could do until someone decided to untie me, so I let go of reality and drifted away, letting unconsciousness take me away from the pain of my back.

MASSIVE AMOUT OF THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN BY Dark Akuma Hunter! THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT 'ASHLEIGH!' It's easier to get the person who's POV it is to write it ^^ I know I'm updating two in one day but I'm in a good mood…plus a slave drove my friend all day so it could be completed. For everyone's sake REVIEW. Will update another chapter after three reviews Thanks.


	6. Chapter 6

Ash POV:

I rolled over and stretched my arms over my head, yawning. Opening my eyes I stared up at the ceiling before pushing myself up into a sitting position after my back protested to having pressure on it. I couldn't figure out why my back was sore so, stifling another yawn, I turned to examining the room. It definitely wasn't my room, and I didn't really recognise it at all. Climbing to my feet I glanced over at the door, shivering as the cold from the floor began to freeze my feet. Part of me was surprised that I wasn't wearing my boots, while another part of me was criticising the first part, since no-one in their right mind would sleep with their shoes on in a bed.

Sighing in irritation I dismissed both sets of nagging thoughts and set about trying to find my boots before my toes fell off. After opening several cupboards and drawers that I probably shouldn't have touched I eventually found my boots at the end of the bed which, admittedly, was where I should have looked first. As I put my boots on I suddenly remembered why I was confused when I woke up. I was tied up on the floor when I fell asleep, and now I was here.

Reaching to my back my eyes widened in shock when I realised my scroll wasn't there anymore. I frantically searched the room all over again; desperate to find my scroll before anyone else had a chance to read it. Straightening up I stared angrily at the door.

"SASORI!" I screamed at the top of my voice, flinching when the door opened and was quickly slammed shut by the red head.

"What?" He sounded annoyed, but he probably had a good reason, a reason involving me and being noisy…

"Where is my scroll?" I demanded, managing to talk at a normal volume.

"Leader-sama has it."

"What?!" I yelled, wincing as I heard how loud I was being. I opened my mouth to say something else when the door opened again, revealing the pissed off Jashinist in the doorway.

"Puppet, can't you keep your bitch under control? She's fucking loud." Glaring at him I stepped past Sasori and slammed the door shut in Hidan's face. The silver haired man threw a myriad of curses and abuse at the door before storming off, probably muttering something about killing me as he went.

**Normal POV.**

I groaned and rolled over…off the bed. "Ow what the fuck, stupid floor?!" I shivered at the cold concrete.

"Shut it bitch." I looked up, startled, at Hidan who was rubbing his face as he closed the door behind him…I wondered what had happened. I recalled what had happened before I had conked out. Ah that bastard had kidnapped me and broken my ribs…I noticed them and twisted, receiving an angry jolt of pain in return. Yep they were still broken.

I glared at him, "Well that was fun," I sarcastically stated. I rubbed a large lump at the base of my skull that hadn't been there before I woke up. Ha, three guesses how Hidan knocked me out, I thought. I glanced at the thin window, it was dusk. The cold ground was starting to freeze me to the core, I shivered again.

I sat up and felt a familiar ache course through my bones. I felt for my Katana.

I was gone.

I breathed twice, it would be okay…surely it hadn't fallen off, right? I searched the room on my hands and knees, ignoring Hidan's stare. I couldn't find it under the bed of anywhere. It felt bare and barren without the heaviness I had become accustomed to across my back.

Hidan looked at me, "Leader-sama took everyone's weapons until the fucking meeting…speaking of which we are already fucking late, bitch."

He hauled me off my feet, painfully.

"Hey put me down you fucking idiot!" he just smirked and carried me into the hall.

Not that anyone was around but this was embarrassing, I felt squished against his broad shoulder, his arm pinning me to him.

I went from struggling to a simple easy release tactic…I bit him. On the only reachable place…which happened to be his neck. I felt like a vampire, chuckling and thinking about what Baxter must feel like all the time.

"Ah fine! Stupid bitch!" he sighed grumpily and dropped me on my ass, the look in his eyes not exactly portraying anger but a seductive smile. Crap, I had forgotten he liked pain... Great, I got up, rubbing my lower back.

"Cheers," I said, my sarcasm dripping. The smirk had fallen from my mouth.

He stole my smirked and shrugged, "You fucking asked for it."

I followed the Jashinist down the hall, we turned enough times for me to get lost, the tunnels appeared and it started getting darker.

I stuck closer to Hidan, I could hear voices. It was times like these that I wanted my sword back.

The darkness lessened and we entered a stone room, chairs were taken by my friends and the other Akatsuki members. Pein sat up the front of the large wooden table that took up most of the room and everyone else was around it. He looked at the two of us impatiently.

Hidan was right, we _were_ late, judging by the glares some members were giving us, Itachi for one was terrifying.

Hidan sat down in his usual seat. The only space left was between Hidan and Pein. Oh happy day!

I sat down, head fixed to the table, sparing a few glances at my friends who were adopting similar positions or, like Emma, were sitting straight like they owned the place… _Damn leader suck-up_ I though angrily at the orange haired girl who was smiling energetically and leaning close to Pein.

One good thing I had noticed was that my hair didn't need brushing, it seemed to stay spiked the way I liked it when I slept, but perhaps that was just because I was knocked unconscious and wasn't moving much at the time. I figured that would be the case.

…

Ash:

After Hidan left Sasori dragged me off through the winding corridors. I knew he didn't like having to wait, and I also knew that there was nothing to be gained by resisting, so I obediently followed him. No matter how much I tried to map the path we were taking there were just far too many corridors for me to keep track of.

We entered what I had to assume was the meeting room, where Pein was waiting, currently alone. Somehow we had managed to be the first to arrive, which at least gave me the chance to pick my own seat, since they seemed to have accounted for the increased number and had decided to supply us with seats of our own.

I sat down in the seat directly opposite Pein, at the end of the long table. Folding my arms and leaning them on the table in front of me I glared at him, not looking up when other people came and sat down.

When Brooksey sat down next to me she seemed a bit depressed, which caused me to actually take my gaze off of Pein and turn to look at her, a hint of concern in my eyes. I had been wanting to yell at Pein, but that could wait, he wouldn't listen if he didn't want to anyway, which was why I was waiting for a better moment.

"What's wrong?" I questioned, caring but not caring at the same time as a dull throbbing settled itself into my skull.

"Someone took my sword." She murmured unhappily, sinking lower into her chair and crossing her arms across her stomach. I rolled my eyes, resting my chin on my arms again as the last people sat down in the remaining seats. It would seem that I wasn't the only one who had been stolen from, so I now had even more reason to yell at Pein.

Speaking of which, he appeared to have acknowledged that we were all present, and was now busy laying things out on the table in front of him. Things that I recognised to be the weapons stolen from us. I bit my tongue to prevent myself from saying something caustic that would result in me being punished or possibly killed, instead watching and waiting for the arrival of my scroll.

It never came.

When Pein looked back at us there was something belonging to everyone on the table in front of us, everyone except for me. Jumping to my feet I slammed my hands on the table, outraged with what I was seeing.

"What the fuck is going on here?! Where is my scroll?" I yelled at him, all my rationality flying out the window in an outburst of anger.

"Learn your place, or you WILL be disposed of." I shuddered and sank back into my seat, hugging my stomach as the reality of my situation sank in.

"I confiscated your things so that we could examine them. They appear to be normal, so I am willing to return these to you on the condition that you will use them for our sake and not against us." I glanced up at Pein, more confused now than I had been when he shouted at me. Opening my mouth I wanted to say something, but one quick glance from Pein was all it took to ensure nothing came out except for a small, involuntary squeak of terror.

"You however," Pein seemed to be talking to me now, and I tensed up. "Your scroll is suspicious. Everyone here has tried and failed to open it, so I am unwilling to give it back to you at the current time seeing as I have no idea of what properties it has."

"A DNA lock? Nah, that's ridiculous…" I muttered to myself, trying to figure it out. Pein glared at me, but it seemed to have piqued his interest nonetheless.

"What are you talking about?" I met his eyes and cautiously climbed to my feet once more. He watched me, not letting any emotion show through.

"Do you have my scroll here?" I asked quietly, dropping his gaze again. He narrowed his eyes at me, but quickly grabbed my scroll from some unknown hidden place and set it down on the table.

"Try and open it." He didn't seem too happy about being told what to do, and I almost took it back, but I held firm and I watched as he attempted to open the scroll. Everyone gasped in shock as black sparks shot off the scroll as Pein tried to open it. He looked at me as if to say 'I told you so'.

"What exactly did you gain by having me demonstrate that?"

"I just wanted to see it with my own eyes." Not making eye contact with anyone I sat back down, hugging one knee to my chest and resting my chin on it as I waited to see if there was any more to this meeting other than admitting to stealing or stuff.

"If I don't find out what it contains then I can't let you have it back." He reaffirmed for my benefit, watching as I averted my eyes before deciding that I was going to stick with my decision not to help him out. I swear I heard him let out an annoyed sigh, but that was probably just my imagination.

"Maybe there's a reason you can't open it…" I muttered to myself, voice muffled by my arm. Pein gestured for the others to come and retrieve their weapons, so the girls all got to their feet and approached the other end of the table. One by one they got their things back, everyone shooting me sympathetic or confused looks as they returned to their seats.

"Now all that's left is to discuss your return to your own world." Complaints immediately rise up, and I sank further into my seat, worried about them talking back to Pein.

"We can't just leave! We have to get Aimee-Leigh back first!" I paled and turned to Mel, who was standing up and glaring at Pein. After sharing a consciousness with Tobi I would have thought that she knew better than to pick a fight with Pein, but apparently not.

"Your argument is pointless, for I don't care about the wellbeing of that friend of yours. We could easily send you back without your cooperation. However it would be a pain to still have one of you lot running around here, so for the current time I guess I'll allow you to go after her." More than one set of shocked eyes locked onto Pein, Akatsuki and school girl alike. No-one had really expected him to go and say something like that.

"So you'll help us?" Mel asked, a hint of hope creeping into her voice.

"That's not what I said. You are dismissed now."

Normal POV

I picked up my katana and slung it over my back as I left the room, following Hidan. Pein's words troubled me and images of us being dumped in the middle of the forest with a tonne of highly trained killers. I shuddered. Pein would probably dispose of all of us once A-L was found. The rooms had to be shared and I was bunking in a tiny wooden room with two single beds and a cold stone floor. I sighed, chucking myself down on the thin bed and chucking my hands behind my head, waving at Hidan as he scowled and left back to his shared room with Kakuzu.

I shivered, man Ashleigh had gotten pissed at that meeting, I thought Pein was going to kill her!

Hmmm I wondered who my roommate would be seeing as they weren't here yet.

Oh well, I would find out in the morning, I was far too tired now. I heard the door creak open as I fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Pein may have dismissed us, but I wasn't ready to give up on getting my scroll back so easily. As the others got up and left I climbed to my feet, moving out of the way. I stood by the wall, dragging my fingers through my brownish red hair as I waited for the last person to leave. Zoe sent me a questioning look before shutting the door behind her, leaving me alone with Pein, the formidable leader.

"Um…" Pein glared at me, not used to being disobeyed. Folding my arms I dug my fingernails into the skin on my arm, steeling myself for dealing with the orange haired man.

"I thought I told you to leave." I lowered my head, letting my hair fall in front of my eyes as I slowly approached him, taking tentative steps.

"You did but… I want my scroll back." Pein frowned; watching as I paused halfway across the room, will power wavering.

"I already told you that you can't have it back until I know what's inside it." His voice was annoyed but I could have sworn that I heard a hint of curiosity in it. Nodding I dropped my arms to my sides before looking up and meeting his eyes, determination blazing fiercely in my emerald eyes as I tried not to let Pein intimidate me.

"I can open it for you." The heavily pierced man stared at me, definitely annoyed now. He had basically already asked me to do that and I had refused, and now I was eating into his time after deciding that now was a good time.

"Why didn't you do it before?" He demanded, clearly showing the fact that he wasn't impressed with my behaviour. It took all of my willpower not to flinch at his tone.

"I'm showing you now so get over it!" I snapped at him, voice cold. He blinked, not having expected an outburst like that.

"Fine." He handed me my scroll, which I unrolled and lay down on the table, revealing three stored puppets and a summoning contract for a wolf. Nothing sparked when I touched the scroll, but when Pein reached out to touch it there was a spark and the scroll rolled itself up, almost as though it was shying away from him. Not believing what had just happened I rubbed my eyes before looking again, but nothing changed.

"That was weird." I whispered, unrolling it once more so that Pein could study it. It was because of the puppets that I hadn't wanted to open it during the meeting. Sasori probably would have scoffed at it. Chances were that I was going to have to show it to him eventually, but first I wanted to try and teach myself the puppetmaster jutsu. There was no reason to rely on others for everything.

"You should let Sasori take a look at those puppets."

"I'll keep that in mind." I assured him, mentally banging my head against a wall. That was the thing that I didn't want to do.

"You can leave now." He told me emotionlessly, walking away.

"Oh, ah, yes leader-sama." Glad that he wasn't trying to kill me for being insolent I quickly grabbed my scroll and high-tailed it out of the meeting room.

Wandering through the corridors I realised I was completely lost, so it really was a stroke of luck when I ran into Kisame just as I was about to try a random door.

"You don't want to go in there, that's Hidan and Kakuzu's room." I quickly backed away from the door, sending him a thankful look.

"Well I don't really know where I'm going… Do you think you can show me?" I asked hopefully, holding my scroll under one arm. He was silent for a moment, probably thinking about the pros and cons of letting me walk around by myself. I would most likely end up getting beaten up for going into someone's room.

"Sure." The blue man walked off down the corridor and I followed him, trying to memorise the way we were going even though I had no idea how I had gotten to Hidan's room in the first place. Eventually he stopped outside another remarkably plain door.

"This is your room." He informed me before leaving. I didn't even get a chance to thank him, but I just shrugged it off and stepped inside, immediately noting the sword lying abandoned on the floor.

"Double room I guess…" Making sure not to step on it I noted that the owner, Brooksey, was already asleep in one of the beds. That was just typical though really, so I sat down on the free bed, contemplating how we were going to be able to accomplish what we came here for.

Normal POV:

I sighed as I woke up, my sleep had been restless in the cold, pitch black darkness. I winced as the sunlight poured in through the thin slit of concrete wall. The covers had been somewhat itchy but they worked at keeping away the deathly cold that crept in at night time. I glanced over…so my roommate was Ty.

"Morning," I croaked at the scruffled black mass of hair that peered back at me.

"Hhhhhnnn." The form blinked twice, revealing coal-coloured eyes, before pulling back the covers and swinging her feet to the floor, staring at it for a minute.

I copied her actions, facing the girl as she dragged a brush through the thick, black mess. I gave my short violet hair a quick brush. "Let's go eat."

She nodded and we chucked on some clothes and heading through the winding corridors.

"Crap, where the heck are we?" I groaned as we passed the same pot-plant once again.

"We're lost. Of _course_." Ty shook her head, her eyes rolling ever so slightly. I growled and smashed my fist into the wall.

That is one thing I don't recommend.

It _really_ hurts.

I yowled in pain and shook my fist, admiring the slight crack in the wall…which was made of _concrete_, may I add.

Ty stared, "You got enhanced _strength_!" I stared wide eyed and nodded, "I guess so."

"Hey, why don't you try it, we all might have it!" She stared at me like I had gone mad…"Okay!"

She shook her hand a couple of times before she punched the wall with all her strength. Both of us cringed. Ty's fist had cleared the wall and was now grasped by another hand…Pein's.

He glared through at the two of us, a tight grip on the raven-haired girl's fist. "If you don't mind, would you consider _not_ breaking our base? Kakuzu has enough payments to make already," he hissed, releasing her hand.

She shook it, black eyes wide with shock and nodded quickly before taking off down the hallway, with myself quickly following, avoiding Pein's glare.

My stomach grumbled as I entered the kitchen. "Food!" I ran to the table and stuffed the nearest edible things into my mouth, I was starving! Possibly from the change from human to anime..? I dunno. Ty stared at me in shock until I realised what I had done.

"H-hello Hidan." I winced, staring into the violet eyes of the highly pissed off Jashinist whose food I had so recently consumed in a fit of hunger.

"What the fuck bitch?!" He yelled, spraying toasted spit in my face. "Sorry." He glared.

"Say it don't spray it…" I mumbled under my breath, sitting down with Ty and buttering some more toast hungrily.

Pein gave us as sharp glance as he entered and made some breakfast quickly.

He fiddled with a few things on the bench before leaving to eat in private.

Ty sighed in relief, "I swear he was going to kill me…if he hasn't changed his mind yet." She looked up with red tinged cheeks and Itachi entered the room silently and sat down.

I chuckled to myself, it was cute to see the boy-_un_friendly Ty actually crushing on someone…it was so unlike her.

Then Deidara walked in, smiling to himself and I took back all of my thoughts as heat started creeping into my cheek. 'Stupid male species.' I growled internally.

I finished up my breakfast and nodded to the others before heading to the training room. If anyone was there I decided I wanted to spar with them...at least then I could try out the full extent of my anime induced gifts.

I slid the heavy metal door along with ease and slipped inside, there wasn't anyone inside yet that I could see so I went over to a few mannequin style target dummies and practiced throwing kunai. I missed most of the time and after several painstaking minutes I managed to clip the hip of one. I smiled proudly before a voice behind me snickered.

"You're doing it all wrong," The red-head chuckled and walked out of the shadows. 'Creepy bloody puppet,' I thought, shuddering…What Ashleigh saw in him I did not know.

He stalked up behind me and I shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the close proximity of the murderous artwork. He held my wrist surprisingly gently and whipped the kunai forward in several motions which my muscles remembered.

The knife embedded itself in the targets chest with a dull thud.

"Thanks for your help." I went back to throwing kunai and shuriken at the dummy, each time getting better and hitting the target on most occasions. Sasori left without saying a word and was gone when I next turned around.

"Whatever." I sighed and turned to the seat to have a break until someone arrived. I took a sip from my water flask, a silver object with a dark violet ribbon that attached in to my side, Shutting the metal clasp the metal door screeched across the concrete as someone entered.

"Zoe? What are you doing here, un?" The blond strolled into the pale grey room, a smile playing his lips.

"Practicing. With some success actually thanks to puppet-boy's help." I chuckled.

"Sasori?" The blond looked a bit …well… I couldn't explain it but his mood seemed to darken slightly.

I nodded questioningly. He made a slight grunting noise before facing the target dummies and sticking his hand in the clay pouch, concealed in his midnight cloak. I wondered what Sasori had done to put him in such a foul mood. That mood quickly changed and I watched in fascination as his mouth chewed at the pale substance before producing a small centipede. His hand shot forward, sending the clay bug flying as though it could crawl through air, growing in size and wrapping around the figure. His hands closed in a jutsu sign and his whispered, "Katsu!"

The dummy no longer existed, in its place was a spectacular array of colours, smoke and charred remnants. A blackened pole with strips of burned fabric dropped to the side of the room as the spontaneous rainbow of fire scattered away.

I stared. Kakuzu was _not_ going to be pleased.

The bomber smirked and looked proudly at his work, feeding his hand into the pouch again and turning to the concrete version of the dummy. This time a number of birds fluttered out beautifully and as he clapped his hands together, first two index fingers raised and muttered his word, they bursts into clouds of flame and this time glowed bright white before fading away. I blinked a couple of times to regain my sight and looked at the now charcoal spotted stone figure.

Another proud beam of expression glinted from the blonds face and he puffed slightly before resting on the marble bench. I pondered how the money nin had afforded this marble stone bench…probably stole it, I figured.

I side-glanced Deidara…he was panting slightly, a smirk dancing on his mouth, his blue eyes looking out at the organised chaos he had ensued. I had to admit it was fairly impressive.

"My turn." I stood up with a confident smile. I was definitely ready to test out my abilities; I was in a show-off mood anyway. Especially with Blondie around.

First I pulled out my katana and started throwing and wielding it, slicing clean through one of the stone targets. I widened my eyes, that would be useful. After some time practicing with the targets another blade clashed with mine. I looked into the determined blue eyes in front of me.

"Dei, what the fuck?" He smirked, I wondered where the hell he had gotten the sword from in the first place. Then I noticed the stack of them at the side of the room, varying in different sizes. Oh.

"Can't let you have all the fun, un. Besides…I need some sword work."

He had chosen a katana similar to mine in shape and length and was now swinging at my throat. I jumped back acrobatically and flipped, disbanding the sword from touching me. I landed lightly, smug yet surprised. I was enjoying this new body, there was no way I would submit to going back to the world I used to live in. I would live here or be slain here, either future that lay ahead didn't matter, I was _not_ going home.

I swung forward at the blond and he jumped back, our swords clashed again and this time my katana started to shimmer. Wait…_shimmer_? I stopped for a split second to look at it before Deidara attacked again, certain he would beat an amateur like me. I felt it in my bones that something was happening, it felt like a stream of energy was connecting my mind to the blade and draining from me slowly.

The thin, silver blade grew and thickened a blue hue of _flame_ started to form around it and it swung of its own accord, at each of my opponent's vital points. Deidara dodged with surprise and tried to deflect it each time. The first attempt succeeded but the next time my blade pierced sharply through his feeble sword, splitting it lengthways before it slid into Dei's shoulder, grinding against his bone and sinew. I screamed in shock as I felt the gold symbol of the Jashin necklace burn against my chest until I pulled the blade away.

"Deidara!" I screeched, grabbing his uninjured shoulder to keep him upright and watched as he grimaced in pain, thin, crimson blood dripped from the wound, staining his black cloak a tinted wet colour.

With a loud, ear splitting noise an orange-haired figured stormed into the room followed by a few others. Kakuzu turned to Dei and asked if he was okay. With a pained nod he turned from him, "Good match, interesting…uh _sword_…you have there, un." He whispered the last part to avoid Leader-sama's scrutiny. Unfortunately Pein had already clicked by looking at the split katana and my still slightly radiant, blood-coated one and connecting the dots.

I picked it up quickly, wiping the blood off and sheathing it before he decided to confiscate it.

He didn't seem too pissed but his tone when he spoke scared me.

"Meeting, now."

He sounded…. _Intrigued_.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ash POV**

After sitting awake for several hours I realised that I wasn't going to sleep any time that night. Knowing this I gathered some clothes and wandered through the sleeping base in search of a shower. I managed to find a bathroom without going into anyone's rooms, or at least any that was currently occupied. It didn't really matter.

Once I finished and had gotten dressed I kept the towel with me and retraced my steps back to the room I was sharing with Brooksey. I opened the door quietly so as not to disturb her before sitting down on my bed and dealing with my hair.

By the time I had finished with that the sun was starting to show through the small window, but my roommate was still sound asleep, as per usual. Leaving the towel and brush in the bed I opened my scroll, staring down at it. I still had yet to sign the contract for the summoning animal, so I hunted through the drawers and shelves, finding an abandoned kunai from whoever may have occupied the room once upon a time.

Sitting down on the floor I carefully pricked my thumb, cringing as it started to bleed. I wasn't afraid of blood, but when it was my own I freaked out a little. Pushing my fear to the back of my mind I pressed my thumb to the page, signing my name as well for good measure. There wasn't really anything to indicate if I had done it right though, so I rolled the scroll back up and pressed my hand to the floor.

"Summoning jutsu." I muttered to myself, feeling like a complete idiot as I did and glad that a certain someone was STILL asleep. Just as I was about to give up and move onto the puppets there was a cloud of smoke which cleared to reveal a slightly larger than normal black wolf. I just sat there and stared for a moment as the wolf took in its surroundings.

"Why did you summon me here?" The wolf asked in a decidedly feminine voice. I blinked and shook my head before looking back at her.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to make sure that I did it right. But since you're here you should know that I'm not sure how long I'll be here for. The contract will probably disappear once I go back to my own world." She stared at me and I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Yo Ash, why is there a husky in our room?" A sleepy voice called out to me. I climbed to my feet, tripping on her samehada look-a-like.

"What's a husky?" The wolf asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"A husky is a breed of dog, and it's a wolf, and no reason." Turning around I begged with my eyes and she nodded, disappearing in another cloud of smoke which left my blonde friend in a state of confusion.

"Your hair's brown again." She commented before her stomach growled loudly, making her laugh.

"Really?" I had known that the dye was almost gone, but for the change to be so drastic when the dye was finally all gone… It must have had something to do with the dimension; it couldn't easily cope with the hair dye from my hairdressers since it was too foreign. "Let's go get some breakfast." She nodded enthusiastically, also tripping over her sword as she headed for the door. Being more wary this time I sidestepped it and followed her out into the hallway.

"Uh… which way is the food?" She asked, staring down the hall in both directions. I shrugged and let her pick which way to try first.

When we finally made it to the kitchen there were two lone inhabitants sitting in what seemed like a rather awkward silence. Kisame was sitting at one end of the table while Amber sat at the other trying not to stare at the blue skinned man.

"Morning all." I called boredly, feeling like I should be exhausted yet still not feeling like I was going to sleep soon. It must have had something to do with post-traumatic stress from having Hidan in my head, or from all the portal diving. Amber perked up when she heard my voice and Kisame seemed a bit happier when he had checked who it was as well, although I was pretty sure that it wasn't my fault. Brooksey grabbed a bunch of toast off the bench and sat down next to Kisame. I grabbed one piece of toast after checking the cupboards for anything else and sat down between her and Amber, slowly and thoughtfully eating.

"I'm going back to the room." I announced after I finished my piece of toast, Amber climbing to her feet to follow me. I didn't mind. On the way back I only took one wrong turn, and I was beginning to get an idea of the layout of the base. She sat down on one of the beds while I released one of the puppets from the scroll, intending on practising making chakra strings.

"I'm not even going to ask where that came from." She muttered, watching me curiously. I sat cross-legged on the floor with my hands out in front of my, eyes closed as I tried to concentrate chakra to my hands. That was the easy part, it felt natural almost. Channelling that chakra into my fingertips seemed near impossible and Amber felt the need to laugh at the look of frustration on my face as I sat there.

"What are you even doing?" I opened my eyes and was about to answer her when a loud voice rang through the room.

"Meeting, now." I frowned, wondering how long there had been an intercom system in the spare rooms

"That sounded like that pierced guy, what do we do?" Amber asked as I pushed myself up, sealing the puppet back into the scroll.

"We go to the meeting room, what else?"

When everyone had finally managed to find their way to the meeting room Pein watched in silence for a time that was seriously beginning to creep me out. That wasn't all though. Deidara appeared to be injured and Zoe had a curious look on her face that I couldn't place. As I looked around the room it struck me for the first time how odd it seemed to not see Konan there. Surprisingly it wasn't Pein who broke the silence first.

"I just remembered something." Baxter spoke up, resting her foot on a spare chair since her ankle hadn't healed yet. "That chick with the blue hair, she's from here right? Is it really okay to let her stay on earth with Gina and Zoe?" I blinked in astonishment; she actually made a perfectly good point, and one that didn't involve trying to take possession of anyone else's limbs.

"She has a point. As I recall Konan is the only real medic here, and if people are going to get randomly injured," I glanced at Baxter and then Deidara who just shrugged, "I think it would be better if we got her back."

"We can worry about Konan later, that's not why I called this meeting." Pein pointed out, speaking for the first time. Frowning I slumped forward, leaning on the table. Whatever he wanted I probably wouldn't be interested in, so I was happy to just lie there.

**Normal POV:**

Pein cleared his voice and spoke up, "After a series of events leading up to now I have come to the decision that we shall hold a …_tournament_…shall we call it. Before I let you all run after that little friend of yours I think you should have some practice in defending yourselves and attacking others. Especially since you will be facing one of our former _members_, Orochimaru."

I widened my eyes slightly but listened as he continued. I wasn't entirely against the idea considering I had just injured Deidara and had only managed to hit a target after getting help from the red-haired puppet master. I shuddered when the realisation that we would have to face Orochimaru set in, that guy creeped me out to the bone. I wondered if Aimee-Leigh was still alive, and if she was, how pointless it would be to rescue her considering the odds…wait, what if Orochimaru had taken over her body?! I couldn't get rid of the slight hunch that he had already done just that.

I went back to listening, "-So if you pass that then you will be accepted as a member of the Akatsuki."

'Wait, what? Was I hearing right?' I wondered, and it seemed I had as almost everyone else in the dark, cramped room had adopted a similar shocked expression, even the guys. Tobi spoke up first, "But Tobi is a good boy! Tobi doesn't wanna hurt girls!" There was anguish in his one visible eye as it glanced subtly at Mel who sat next to him, hand on his shoulder, calming him down. She looked down quietly but didn't say anything…Somehow I suspected that there was a conversation going on between them unbeknownst to us.

Pein glared at him and after Mel touched his shoulder, Tobi shut up instantly and remained straight up in his seat. I fidgeted in my chair and quickly glanced at Deidara who hadn't moved since Leader had spoken and didn't flinch when Kakuzu began sewing up the wound on his arm. Hidan was grinning from ear to ear, eager at the idea, and the thought of the immortal killing _everyone_ without mercy, sacrificing them to Jashin, came to mind, I wondered how Pein intended to stop that from happening. I hoped yet barely trusted that the ginger knew how to stop the sadistic man.

A mix of emotions were flitting across Ashleigh's face as she surveyed everyone else in the room, her gaze stopping to linger on one person in particular with a worried expression. Sasori seemed unfazed much as Kakuzu did, the two of them being the oldest and most experienced of the members here might have had something to do with it but I figured that the puppet would have shown his shock if he wasn't made of wood. The red head covered up any evidence with a slight smirk directed at the now brunet-haired Ashleigh and I could have sworn I saw her shudder.

Emma, who had been at Pein's side since the beginning looked the most surprised out of any of us. A look of betrayal crossing her face as sunk down into her chair, not taking her eyes off the pierced man she had grown so fond of. He didn't even spare her a glance.

Kisame and Brooksey to almost everyone's surprise were now locked in a strong embrace, tears streaking down their faces, from tightly closed eyes, at the thought of fighting each other or any of the others, after a few seconds they broke apart and grabbed the others fist in a sign of trust. They were going to team up. Amber's face was stricken with fear and it made me realise how unskilled we all were. A tight knot of emotion was beginning to wind itself up in my stomach. I was going to die.

We all were.

There wasn't much we could do about it, being faced against the most elite s-rank criminals that would slaughter us much like Itachi slaughtered his own clan. Speaking of Itachi I noticed now that his sharingan was out and it was focussed on the small form of my roommate next to him. Ever since Pein had told us there had been utter silence apart from Tobi's outburst and the little raven haired girl had stayed hidden in the shadows, head down so her hair covered her face enough to hide any expression she had on it. Itachi seemed to be trying to comfort her in some way or at least figure out what she was thinking with his sharingan.

I returned my attention to Baxter and Macin who both had lost the colour from their faces, Macin looked at Kakuzu and then at Zetsu and the other killers in the room and shivered uncontrollably before laughing quietly to herself, if not slightly insanely. Baxter eyed her form and anxiousness furrowed her brow. She glared down at her injured foot and cursed herself for getting hurt so early, under her breath. I knew then that because she and Deidara were the two injured ones that they would most likely get killed first or at least targeted first.

I started thinking about teaming up if I had any hope of survival against the Akatsuki villains. 'People who are strong ….hmm…' I thought. 'I can't trust most of the guys…they are too likely to backstab us…amongst us girls the ones with most power were probably…Brooksey with her Samehada-look-alike…Ashleigh has the scroll... perhaps it summons something good… I don't know much about Ty's power yet but super strength seemed good…I wonder what abilities the others got…' I glanced at Amber's fan and Macin didn't seem to have any weapons on her yet I noticed a slight mark on her hands that hadn't been there before.

Pein stood up and did some hand signs, cutting off my thoughts. Everything went dark and I felt the air moving around me. A dim white glow now illuminated the tree-like surroundings of shadows and cliffs, topped by an artificial, thick, plastic roof. I was by myself in one area of the cavern, at the edge of a clearing, the moon shining through the see-through celling.

It had begun.

**Feel free to Review Both Dark Akuma Hunter and Z.C.A would definitely appreciate it! Otherwise we might have to set Sasori and possibly Tobi on you…you don't want to be forced to torture yourself while Tobi makes you seem to be surrounded by killer clowns in a genjutsu…now do you? : ) And of course we added a cliffy! Get over it! Or tell us your feelings about the cliffies in a review perhaps?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry we haven't updated in a while. Dark Akuma Hunter has been away and Z.C.A has been busy with work-ish things that drain the life of most people. Anyway…onwards!**

As it seemed, I was completely alone. I figured Pein had placed us in different areas to plan tactics and find shelter.

"Stupid leader… I'm gonna get freaking killed here! Bastard's probably watching us from somewhere safe too..." I muttered angrily, hurrying into the treeline to avoid being seen. I had to admit, I hadn't expected it to be like this, I thought we would just verse one on one in a battle type style in an arena or something. An irritating shiver hitched down my spine, and, grumbling, I felt for my weapons. I still had my katana on my back and my pouch had been replenished with kunai and shuriken along with a small bottle of unknown liquid. My chakra had also somehow been restored to its full potential…hmmm.

I crouched down and surveyed my surroundings. I knew that Itachi and Kisame were probably the ones who would attack if provoked. Sasori was more of a stealth style, staying hidden and laying traps, gathering followers. Kakuzu I was unsure of. The thing I dreaded most was facing my friends. I couldn't even begin to think who I could … I shook my head.

**Ash POV:**

So one minute we're safe and sound in the meeting room (I never thought I would hear myself say that) and the next minute I'm all alone, mere inches away from falling into a stream. That wouldn't have been a particularly good way to start a death match.

"Water… I should probably get away from here." It was bad enough that I didn't particularly like water, but since I had no idea where Kisame was the best plan was to get the hell out of there. I hadn't gotten far when I noticed the slight weight of a scroll on my back and the weapons pouch wrapped around my leg.

"I don't know whether to be thankful or severely freaked out…" I murmured to myself, pausing and grabbing a kunai from my weapons pouch. Pein knew what was on my scroll; I'm not really sure what he's thinking though. If I survive and Sasori somehow doesn't then there'll be no-one to teach me. Then again, it's pretty unlikely for that to happen.

Gritting my teeth I gently ran the blade along my thumb, only just hard enough to make it bleed a tiny bit. Kneeling down I placed my hand against the hard-packed earth and summoned the wolf once more.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking around our location. I shrugged, moving so that I was crouched down on the balls of my feet, ready to move at any moment.

"I have absolutely no idea. Pein did some weird jutsu and then… here we are." I then proceeded to mumble a stream of curses that would give my nana a heart attack, all directed at Pein or the situation we had ended up in.

"Calm down, I cannot help you if you are distressed like this." Blinking in surprise I turned to look the black wolf in the eyes. Did I really just get told off by an animal? Not that it would be the weirdest thing to happen in the last few days. I nodded anyway and took a deep breath, forcing any more curses, anger and anxiety to the back of my mind.

"Hey, you're a wolf so you have a pretty good sense of smell right?" She glanced at me with curious silver eyes and waited silently for me to continue. "Well, can you smell anyone near here? It would be nice to know in advance if I'm going to be ambushed since I can't sense chakra signatures."

"I suppose I can do that." She confirmed, sniffing the air before lowering her nose to the ground and starting a sort of perimeter search. I watched her, trying to stay alert at the same time. Her head shot up and she opened her mouth to say something, but before she had time something smacked into the back of my head, hard.

**Earth:**

The blue haired kunoichi froze, her spoon halfway between her mouth and her ice-cream sundae. Zoe and Gina both looked up from their own sundaes and shared a confused glance before trying to speak to the otherworlder.

"Do you have brain freeze?" Zoe asked, voicing the only logical explanation she could think of. It was a teacher only day so the two of them had taken her to the mall, again. The woman never seemed to get bored of it.

"My brain is fine." Konan assured them, placing her plastic spoon carefully back in the ice-cream container. "Something is very wrong." She had developed a slightly glazed look, as though she was staring into nothing. It made the two teenagers rather nervous and they started looking around the store for suspicious looking people. When they looked closely there were actually quite a few, but something told them it wasn't what Konan was talking about.

"What is it?" Gina asked quietly so as not to draw the attention of the other customers. Konan muttered something unintelligible under her breath as she attacked the ice-cream angrily.

"I don't know… but now I feel like I should have gone back with the others. Something isn't right, I just know it." They both stared at Konan, worried since it was obvious that she was talking about the place that their friends had gone to. If she thought something was up then the others could be in trouble.

"Do you know how to get back?"

"No." Konan grabbed a napkin and started nervously folding it, trying to calm herself down.

Twenty paper cranes later they had been kicked out of the store and yet she still couldn't dispel the sense of unease that had settled itself in her mind.

**Ash POV:**

"Ugh!" I sank to my knees, leaning forward resting on my elbows with my hands gingerly holding the back of my head. There was warmth from one side where I assumed the wolf had come to see if I was alright. I wasn't.

"Aw fuck that's sore…" I moaned, forcing myself to sit up as the occasional black spot danced across my vision. It took me almost a full minute for everything to stop spinning and for me to be able to see normally. For my troubles I was rewarded with a close up view of a whole lot of orange.

"Tobi!" The orange moved back so that I could see Tobi better. His visible eye seemed devoid of emotion, but I had never been the most adept at reading emotions anyway.

"That was pathetic, although I must admit I am slightly impressed with your summoning animal. I didn't expect that sort of thing from you lot." I frowned, wincing slightly. It wasn't Tobi, oh no, it was Madara. He was in full battle mode I suppose.

"Mel won't like it if she hears you've been calling her friends pathetic." He paused, frozen on the spot as he pondered what I had just said. His distraction gave me the time to climb to my feet and sink into one of the many defensive stances I had learned from two years of helping my sister train for taekwondo. I was better at it than she was and I hadn't had a single lesson.

"I see you've still got some fight left in you after all." He commented, standing up to his full height. He really was terrifying when he dropped the Tobi act and I almost turned and ran. The only problem with that being that he would have merely killed me while my back was turned. I wasn't about to let him catch me unawares again.

"Taekwondo is supposed to be for self-defence only, but I have no moral obligation to stick to that rule." Even so I waited for him to make the first move. I waited and I waited, but he just stood there, observing me.

"The fact that you didn't pass out in the very least from my hit is impressive. Many a person has died that way and here you are, up on your feet and trying to fight on. I suppose you have potential after all." I blinked up at him, completely at a loss as to what he was on about. Had he actually been expecting me to die from that first hit? Had he really been trying to kill me? I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, people were going to die, that was Pein's plan.

"What was your name again?" He asked, breaking me out of my increasingly morbid thoughts.

"Ashleigh." He nodded once.

"Alright then Ashleigh, try not to die out there." With that he disappeared and I was left with a pounding headache, a worried wolf and a whole lot of confusion.

**Normal POV:**

Adjusting the grip I held on my katana I stalked forward until I found the terrain I had been searching for the past hour. If this was based anything like the Chunin exams then there would be a variety of terrains to suit each individual's fighting style. A steep rocky cliff face loomed ahead of me and I sheathed my sword, fastening the thick leather, fingerless gloves that I had found in my pouch to my hands. I started to scale the rocks, prying to find another hand-hole when a metallic object flew past my ear and clattered against the rocks before falling down to the dirt below. A kunai. I began to shimmy up the cliff a darn sight faster, not caring who my enemy was just knowing that I needed to get out of range quickly or I would be killed. Think for a minute Zoe, breathe, I told myself. If it had have been Akatsuki they would have hit me with that kunai, unless it was a warning shot, which only left one of the girls…who would try kill me from them though?! I scurried onto a small ledge and peered down at the cluster of trees that lined the forest surrounding the base of the cliff. In the clearing between the base of the cliff and the tree-line stood a figure.

"What the?" I swore inaudibly at the shadow. "T-tobi?" The masked figure stared up from the base of the rocks. I felt certain I was safe up here, I was the best rock climber of our year and this did seem to be fairly difficult to climb. A breath of wind sent my hair flurrying slightly and I gasped as I felt the cool blade touch my throat. H-he was behind me?! A sharp, cool pain wet my throat as the blade cut shallowly and the wind picked up again, leaving me alone.

My hands shot up to my throat as I choked slightly. It wasn't supposed to end that way. Not without any fight or even a chance to stop the attack. Damn Madara. My vision blurred slightly and I fought against it, forcing my eyes open and pushing myself back against the wall of the cliff, shakily. The front of my top was sticky with red and my neck burned like hot fire as I tried to ignore it. I could hear something…a voice but it seemed distant and echoed. No! It can't be an echo; I refuse to die from a simple cut! It's a vital cut you retard! I don't give a shit! I finished arguing with myself and blacked out. Crap.

**Blackout Time skip**

"Hmmmnrrgghh….what….?" I stirred slightly. The ground was hard and cold. A cave floor. I could hear someone shuffling around. I sat up straight away and looked at the figure in front of me, hurling myself at the person I held a kunai to their throat. "Get away from me! Huh?" The figure smiled at me. "Deidara?!" The blond smirked. It was only now that I noticed the bandages around my neck and the blood stained rags on the ground from my shirt that had been cleaned. "Y-you did this…but why help me?" His smiled faltered and I couldn't tell the expression that crossed his face in that second.

He laughed then and gave a shrug, "I guess you seem to be a strong ally, un… heh even with your injury." He gave note to the blood-stained bandages that sat like a choker around my throat. I touched a hand to them, surprisingly it didn't hurt. We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, looking at the sun which was slowly abandoning us behind the mountains. "Ah man it's getting dark, I'll call watch for the first shift, you sleep," I croaked slightly. Deidara attempted to protest but I shut him up with a look and the blond begrudgingly went to sleep at the front of the cave.

I got comfortable at the mouth of the cave, kunai in hand and scanned the tree-line. No doubt Tobi….or should I say _Madara _was bound to come back to raid his kill. When he found my body gone he would probably be pissed. I sighed, this was going to be a very long night.

Please review! We seriously feel like sitting in an emo corner when you don't (And believe me that emo corner already has enough mushrooms thank you!). Hope you liked it! Back to school now so updates may be less frequent, sorry.

Dark Akuma Hunter: Yeah! You don't want to make us hide in the corner when we're supposed to be concentrating on lvl 2 NCEA! Stupid school… Heh, I almost hope that I get the same English teacher this year so I can muck around and write more fanfiction in class :P


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for not updating in ages. We just started back at school! Lol we actually asked all of our friends how they wanted to die and so here is the beginning of their answers. You probably won't get to know all of them because we are not killing everyone but we can post them in the Author's note if you want! Review!**

**Third Person:**

Baxter landed heavily, sinking to her knees as her ankle protested. The brown hair which had fallen from her braid was hanging around her face, hiding the complicated expression which had become painted across her features. Although she wasn't exactly sure what was going on she knew that she would be at an automatic disadvantage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~…~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~…~~~~~~~~~~~~~…~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amber.

Dark blonde hair was hurriedly brushed out of the way as she stumbled, catching her balance only when she fell against a tree. The ninja star on her back was heavy, heavier than she remembered it being. Glancing around Amber noted her location, not that it would do her any good in the long run since she had no idea where she actually was in relation to anything else. Her brain was too busy trying to figure out how she had gotten there to actually really take notice of cliff edge not four metres in front of her, or the steep drop to the ground below. Instead she pushed herself upright and stared at the sky, trying to at least figure out what time of day it was.

The shadows from the trees stretched out behind them away from the cliff, but seeing as though she wasn't sure at all what direction she was facing it could be either early morning or late in the afternoon. When she had been at the base it had been morning, but she wasn't willing to accept that she had travelled here instantaneously.

"This sucks." She muttered to herself, wrapping her arms around her stomach nervously. It was only then that she realised just how much her lack of knowledge about the world they had stumbled into would put her at a disadvantage. The others, Zoe, Ty and Ashleigh, seemed to know almost everything there was to know about the people they were with and the situation they were – or at least had been – in. Somewhere deep inside she understood that with that knowledge they would somehow be safe, they would find a way to survive this and overcome it, just like they did with everything else. She stayed there next to the tree for quite a long time, watching the sun cross the sky as she tried feebly to formulate a plan of action.

"Where is everyone?" She whispered softly as she walked slowly over to the edge of the cliff, peering down over the edge as though it would help her to locate someone. Being as lost in thought as she was she failed to notice the person approaching her. Amber shuffled closer to the edge, trying to see as far as she could. A hand rested on her shoulder and she spun around, eyes widening when she got a face full of orange. The hand disappeared and she lost her balance, arms windmilling wildly as she tried to right herself.

A gloved hand reached out as if to help steady her, but it was too late. Her feet slipped and she plummeted over the edge, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as she fell towards the earth hundreds of yards below.

The orange masked man looked at his hand briefly before turning away from the cliff. The earth before him moved as Zetsu rose from the ground.

"**You pushed her off. **Why would you do that?" His black persona sounded threatening while his white side was merely curious.

"Tobi didn't push her! Tobi was trying to help!" Madara replied in his high-pitched, childish Tobi persona. Zetsu frowned at the complicated man, trying to figure out a reason to deny his obvious involvement in what had just played out. In the end it only gave the plant man headaches trying to understand the man, so he let the subject drop for the time being and disappeared back into the ground once more.

"And here I was actually going to give her a chance." Madara murmured to himself once Zetsu was gone, once more staring at his gloved hand. "Oh well. What's done is done." He quickly left the area, not wanting to be around should anyone actually find the body.

**Ash POV:**

Sitting next to the stream with my boots on the bank and my feet in the water I watched absently as the wolf – she had told me that her name was Silestra, a name I deemed extremely odd for an animal – walked back and forth, almost as though she were pacing. Using my kunai I had cut off a strip of fabric from the bottom edge of my shirt, revealing the mesh undershirt I was wearing. I dipped it in the stream and held it against the base of my head, trying to numb the dull throbbing pain that was still present from Madara's ambush.

"Damn…" If truth be told I had been bluffing about my taekwondo skills. It was true that I was better than my irritating younger sister, but she was awful, so it didn't amount to much in the end. I was just relieved that Madara hadn't called my bluff; otherwise I would most likely be dead.

It really wasn't a pleasant prospect.

I'm not entirely sure how long I had been sitting there for when I heard the scream. It was high-pitched – definitely a girl – so I knew that one of us had been struck down. The scream sent a cold shudder down my spine. I had no way of knowing who had fallen, or why, and I suddenly felt angry. Furious even. We came to this world to rescue Aimee-Leigh; we didn't sign up for a death match. Silestra let out a low growl, showing that she too had heard the scream, and probably much clearer than I had. For a second I contemplated asking her to take me towards that place, but I quickly shook away that notion. There was no way I wanted to see visual proof of the death of one of my friends. If I didn't see the body I could always pretend that everyone was still alive.

"This isn't a good sign is it?" I questioned Silestra, drying my feet off roughly in the grass before putting my boots back on. If I was going to jump to conclusions then I would assume that Madara had gotten to someone else, but I had to factor in all the other murderous criminals out there with us. Any one of them could easily have done it. I frowned deeply, scuffing my boots along the ground as I walked with one hand on Silestra's head away from the stream and deeper into the forest. My eyes were heavy and I was completely exhausted, but I couldn't afford to fall asleep so I forced myself to keep moving.

Unfortunately sheer will power could only sustain me for so long, and I passed out halfway through the forest.

-**Orochimaru's Lair-**

The base was silent for the time being, but that was subject to change at any moment thanks to a certain 'guest'. Sasuke had escaped the base to get away from her outbursts, Kabuto was attempting to create a narcotic to calm her down, and Orochimaru was holed up in his room seriously considering murdering her.

"POCKET BABIES!" An obnoxiously loud, high pitched voice rang through the base from the room where the earth girl was being kept locked up. No-one had figured out how she managed to be so loud, especially considering that they were only just feeding her enough to keep her alive.

"And that can easily be rectified." The snake man reassured himself, wincing slightly at the sound of her voice. He heard her voice once more and left his room in the direction of her own.

**Amber POV:**

Let me tell you, falling off a cliff is not something I normally would have succumbed to. I was never as clumsy as that back on earth, but the stupid hunk of metal strapped across my back was definitely my downfall. The second I lost my balance (because that creepy masked dude crept up on me!) I was done for, the metal weighing me down. Even though the orange masked guy weirded me out I still tried to reach out to him for help. I even thought he was going to help me, but apparently I was wrong.

Like any sane person, when falling from a high cliff I screamed my lungs out. What else was there for me to do? I was completely helpless and everything felt like slow motion. The wind whipping around the canyon even managed to flip me on to my stomach so that I could watch the ground getting ever closer. It wasn't a pretty sight. But while falling I had a while to think, the first though was, 'That fucking lollipop masked dude pushed me!' The second… 'What the- is that a person down there?'

As wind rushed past my face I saw a figure come into view, a few seconds later I landed on them with a painful 'Crunch.'

**Normal P.O.V**

My eyes were sore from watch duty all night but it had been worth it. So far I had already scared off a cat and…a rat. Very eventful. A shuffling sounded behind me and Deidara woke up, "Hey, un." He ended up in a slack sitting position next to me, hair in a mess of blonde. I thought it was kinda cute when it was shaggy like that. "What." Deidara stated, and I realised I was staring at him. I blushed slight, "Oh sorry, I was staring at your hair, it's so messy." I giggled which was weird for my character so I stopped quickly. Deidara quickly ran his fingers through his cool golden locks, straightening them out. "Oh uh I can take over now. Get some sleep," he said, giving my shoulder a nudge.

I tried to get comfortable at the back of the cave, bored; I ran my finger through the dirt, drawing patterns. My throat was starting to sting again so I gave it a slight rub. A ripple of pain hit my head and made me dizzy. I ended up staring at Deidara again, his silhouette outlined at the mouth of the cave. It was still a few hours until the sun came up and his hair was fluttering in the soft breeze. I shivered slightly and wrapped my arms around my sides, closing my eyes. I slowly drifted to sleep as Dei watched over me, I felt surprisingly….safe.

**Ash POV:**

When I opened my eyes I immediately wanted to shut them again as harsh sunlight attacked my irises. My face hurt, not to mention my clothes were damp since I had fallen asleep – more like passed out – on grass. As I pushed myself up into a sitting position I spotted Silestra curled up not too far away, apparently taking the chance to rest while I was conked out in the middle of a menacing forest full of murderers. Definitely the best place to have a nap.

"Oh for the love of Jashin," I muttered irritably when my fingers found my necklace pressed into my cheek. It was no wonder that my face hurt if I had been sleeping on that for any number of hours. There was likely to be a mark too, just another thing to look forward to in the grand scheme of things, having an imprint of an upside-down cross on my face. Wonderful.

Standing up I nudged Silestra to wake her up, ignoring the noises of complaint my stomach was making since I hadn't eaten since breakfast back at base which was who knows how long ago. The wolf seemed fine though, once she had had a little laugh at my expense. Really, she's pretty insensitive.

After quickly retying my boots I headed off in a random direction, hoping to eventually get out of that godforsaken forest. It really gave me the creeps sometimes. It was as I was walking and keeping one eye out for anything that looked edible that I stumbled across a pile of small bushes that seemed to have been flattened, almost as though someone had been sleeping on them. I didn't want to stick around to find out who had been there.

**1 Hour Ago:**

Baxter was walking cautiously through the forest. If her ankle had been fine she would have been making as much noise as she wanted and not cared if she was found, but now was a different story. Now she was in serious danger, so she was trying to be as quiet as possible, always looking over her shoulder. There were noises everywhere in the forest and she couldn't tell if some of it might be caused by a human, or whatever the robed men were. It was beginning to get dark and she needed to find some place to sleep. After searching for a long time she came across some large tree roots that formed a hollow and the area was surrounded by shrubs, making it concealed. She packed herself in with branches and leaves to keep warm but she had the strangest feeling that even though she was invisible to any passers, there was someone watching her.

A noise triggered her reaction and she leapt out of her hiding spot as Zetsu appeared, "Zetsu! It's you!" Baxter smiled widely. Zetsu gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement, "I don't want to end up killing you. **I will go now."** Her face dropped as Zetsu lowered his gaze reluctantly. Before he could leave a dull thud sounded and Baxter's eyes glazed over. He heard several more gut wrenching noises in those few seconds before she landed among the bushes, skewered by several arrows. Zetsu's black half took over and forced him to run. The plant man morphed into a tree nearby and settled in for the night, shocked. After thinking frantically for some time and once his heart had slowed down, the grief fading away, he realised something.

Nobody in the Akatsuki or any of the girls, used arrows.

***Shooters P.O.V***

"Seven clean shots. Target killed through shots to the heart, lungs and neck. Shall collect and then move onto the next target." They spoke into the receiver and then the call ended. Another hiss in the assassin's ear and a message came through. "New target: Code: 3xc09006v." The killer stared with black eyes towards the treeline in confirmation. Taking off from the vantage point they hurried to find the next target, the one they called Ty.

_Sorry sorry sorry *holds out hand* Smack if you wish but sorry! Been so busy lately and depressed cause I wrote parts of my stories and then lost all of the work I did. Ugh stupid comp. Hope you enjoyed it, if you did (or didn't) please review so we know whether you want another chappy or not. :D_


	11. Chapter 11

**Macindoe's POV:**

Since it all began I felt as though I'd hit the ground running and had done nothing else ever since. I was still coming to terms with this new strange world, but the familiar surroundings of bush and trees gave me something to keep a grip on. I knew from the start that I would need water, so I kept to lower ground where the main streams and lakes would be. I'd slept little, my mind too alert to rest, and ate even less. Beneath the blue dome of a familiar looking sky, and the light of a familiar looking sun, it was hot. I was only thankful that this new body was better equipped for this kind of physical exersion than my old one, but even so, I was going to have to rest soon.

I stopped to take a breath, leaning against the stable surface of the tree. I didn't want to run anymore. I needed to stop - regroup maybe – but I couldn't find anyone in this damn place. I guessed that was a good thing. Being alone was probably better than bumping into one of those arrogant prats they called Atasumi… Akatsuki? What had Zoe called them? It didn't matter, they were pains-in-the-neck all the same. If only I had more protection. Most of the others had cool weapons, when all I found was this amber coloured bottle of liquid. If I was with one of the others, they'd have something to fend off enemies with. I cursed my stupidity for being so foolish and thirsty to drink down the liquid in that bottle. Maybe I could have waited to see if it could be used for something more useful now, or atleast to drink. I guess that's what you get for being blonde though, not to mention impatient.

I stared at my hands again. After I had drunk the remains of the bottle I had found that my hands were itchy. As I'd scratched them, scars began to show. I'd tried to stop but found myself absently scratching my palms and as a result the marks had become more prominent. Now as I looked at them I could see a shape; a symbol, was engraved in my hand. A simple triangle stretching from the base of my wrist up to my middle finger. I wonder what it meant, if it meant anything at all. Of course it had something to do with the liquid in the bottle. I'd been to stupid not to see the connection before but it seemed obvious now. Hadn't I seen the same symbol on the bottle?

Breaking away from my thoughts, I lifted my head. Now that my breathing had slowed and my heart had stopped pounding, I could hear the whispers of a nearby stream. That meant water. Thank god: I was thirsty. Dehydration was a bugger and this headache was killing me.

I made it to the stream and paused. Would it be safe to drink? Had I been in my right frame of mind, I would have said no, but right then, I wanted nothing more than to jump right in. I restrained myself and scooped it into my hands, gulping it down ungraciously, not afraid to splash my face while I was at it.

I'd been there for a few minutes when I heard it. A thump. Soft footsteps approaching. Carefully, I stood and swung around to face my opponent – mid leap as he propelled himself out of the greenery.

**Normal POV:**

The sound of a short scream assaulting my ears woke me. It sounded like a girl…'Not another one of us,' I groaned internally. I slowly sat up and sighed, removing the blood crusted bandage from my neck and chucking it onto the hard stone ground. Dizziness overwhelmed me for a split second before I felt a hand on my shoulder, startling me. "Deidara!" I yelped as large Azure eyes pierced my own. He seemed worried I realised.

"You need to rest more; you don't just get up and start moving around so soon after a lethal injury, un!" He kept staring at me with concern. I looked down slightly depressed, "Mmm I guess you're right." His firm hand pushed me back down onto the ground slowly. "I know I'm right, un. Now sleep."

His face was still hovering over mine a few seconds later and it was making me nervous. "Go keep watch. I'm not sleeping, its morning now anyway." His expression didn't change. Why wasn't he moving his eyes? He was still staring at me. I didn't like the nervous, uncomfortable feeling it gave me in my chest. "Go on. Leave." My heart beat a little faster as he moved forward an inch. "No." He said softly. And then his lips brushed over mine. I couldn't breathe, I shut my eyes tight and tried to ignore it but as much as I remained frozen I felt my own lips press back ever so slightly.

That's when I felt the soft clay being pushed into my mouth. Few things crossed my mind in that split second. Alarm. Panic. 'N-no way!' Deidara leapt back with a blank expression. "Katsu."

**Macindoe's POV:**

I dashed to the side, just in time as he splashed into the water behind me, disrupting its surface ungraciously, yet landing so perfectly. Pivoting, he gave me a sharp glare then launched himself at me again.

"Piss off!" I yelled, "I'm trying to get refreshment here!" and almost laughed at the sillyness of the situation. It was not every day strange white haired men jumped out of bushes to steal your water from a public stream.

He said nothing in reply and threw a punch in my head. I ducked, ever so thankful for my quick reactions, and reversed. When all else failed, I knew that I was best at gaining distance between me and my opponent. I found myself naturally falling into the "on-guard" position I'd learnt from fencing: my legs bent at the knees, right hand in front, ready to lunge if need be.

I found myself once again wishing for a weapon. Something long and sharp. I wasn't afraid of using my hands if need be, and I sure as hell would bite, but if I wanted to put distance between me and him something like that would be whole-heartedly welcomed and would give me less of a chance of me being injured as well.

I back-stepped again then dived, shoulders first. I'd hoped to knock him off his feet, but apart from a slight backwards stumble, he was as steady as a rock. He shoved me aside and I fell. Adrenaline numbed any pain and I rolled away and back onto my feet.

Leaping across the stream I turned to face him again. He was quick and new it would only take him a second to be at me again. I was correct, but this time I was daring and took the full offense approach. I swung a punch as he came near me and when that didn't work he was close enough to knee in the stomach. As he leaned forward and I think I heard him say something, but I didn't care to find out what. I noted the huge scythe on his back and wondered why he hadn't used it yet.

I couldn't think for long though because he grabbed my legs making me fall again. Frustrated, I dug my teeth into his ankle, and although I doubt it hurt him much, it surprised him enough for me to make my escape and I wormed my way out from under his grip.

Behind him now, I had the upper half. Or so I thought.

"You old man!" I yelled and again I tried to knock him off balance, but he was prepared and whipped round only to throw me off him and into the freezing water. I stumbled and, my feet finding no purchase lost on the slippery rocks and flailed hopelessly. I fell, soaking myself in water, only knowing that now, I was really in trouble.

"I'm not that fucking old." He replied and made his way towards me. I tried to scramble away but he grabbed my arm. "But I am much older and sure as hell, much smarter, than you."

Knowing it was useless to fight at this point I slackened in an attempt to conserve energy. Maybe if he let go, just for a moment I could make a break for it and run. He was faster than me, and I was tired still, but I knew well enough that once I was in that forest, I could lose him.

"You'll pay for that ankle…" he muttered, and when I looked down it was bleeding. Looked like I'd done more damage than I'd thought. He raised his arm to strike (probably to knock me out so he could kidnap me again) and I flinched. My free hand flew up instinctively to block the blow, and managed to grab his dropping arm. I wasn't sure what had stopped him at first but then I heard him screech.

"Shi-i-i-i-i-!" He yelped and trying to pull away. I opened my eyes in shock to see my hand was… _glowing_.

He wrestled free exposing reddened flesh. I had… burned him. _Burned _him.

Astonished, I looked at my hands.

The twin triangles were glowing like fire.

**Amber POV.**

While I was falling through the air all I squeezed my eyes shut as tightly as I could, having no desire to see myself get further and further away from the ledge. All the while I was mentally cursing the lollipop faced man who had given me such a start that I fell. All it took was a small stumble and I was practically suicidal, plummeting towards what was a 99.99% chance of death.

…That was just depressing.

A small – okay it was extremely loud – scream was obviously called for in such a situation, but otherwise I had more or less resigned myself to what was happening. When I landed I expected excruciating pain followed by either death or more pain as I lay broken and semi-conscious.

That was even more depressing.

As I continued to fall I tried to think about happier things. The last thing I wanted to be thinking about when I hit the ground was my impending death. Instead I thought about home, about my favourite foods, about what I would do when I got back because I refused to really believe that it was the end.

And then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, I hit something. Hard.

The impact was accompanied by a loud grunt of surprise, one far too deep to have been my own. There was a stripe of pain across my back, but that was the extent of my misfortune. I briefly debated whether there was any merit in opening my eyes, before mentally shrugging and opening them anyway. What I saw was green and black eyes staring down at me in shock and annoyance. It was my turn to squeak in surprise – squeaking was far more dignified than giving a manly grunt. My mind was running at a hundred miles a minute but it was getting nowhere, I was in a state of shock even greater than I had been when I stepped back onto open air. This man had caught me after I fell at least a good 100 metres, and all he had to say was to grunt at me? What was he, some sort of superhuman?

If my brain was functioning properly I may have recalled the things Zoe and Ashleigh had spent many a lunchtime talking about, but there was no helping it. My brain had abandoned me.

"Umm… hi?" Was all I could muster up, and all the response it got me was a blink. I was trying to think of something better to say when I felt the arms supporting me disappear and I was falling again, though this time it was a mere metre at most, a startlingly insignificant height considering what I had just been through. My tail-bone begged to differ though, a metre was enough to do some damage. The least I could do was thank him for saving my life, right? And I fully intended to do it, even if he didn't care, but he was nowhere in sight. Every way I craned my neck I could see only cliffs and distant forest.

"Whatever." I muttered irritably. Pushing up on my arms I went to stand up, before letting out a small hiss of pain and deciding that perhaps it would be better to stay there for a while, at least until I could form longer sentences again.

_**Author's Note: An simple upwards facing triangle is actually the Alchemy symbol for fire. It's modest, but it get's the point across :P (Get it: point. Coz it's a traingle! …No? Okay. Right then.)~Macin.**_

_**Hey guys thanks a tonne for your reviews! Hope you like this chappy, sorry I died though! D: ~ZCA.**_

_**Heh, not much from me this time around. All I did was Amber's section. Macin wrote most of this, she seemed to have more muse than we did. Until next time then. ~ Dark Akuma Hunter**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, hey all! Another chappy up! Now we have 5 writers working on this so make sure you take the time to review! We would really appreciate it!**

_**Our writers areeeeee**_

_**-Macin**_

_**-Ash (Dark Akuma Hunter)**_

_**-Emma**_

_**-Ty**_

_**-Zoe A (Z.C.A) **_

**YES OUR CHARACTERS WRITE THEIR OWN POINT OF VIEWS, MOSTLY.**

******Tobi: Get on with it, Zoe-chan!**

**Madara: Don't make me cut out your spleen while you sleep...**

* * *

**Normal POV:**

I could feel my damn eyelids sitting against my eyes and it was irritating me, everything was sensitive. I growled and opened them, wondering what was going on as my ears rang and my head ached like bitch. Memories flooded back to me.

"That fucking son of a bitch!" I sat bolt upright. Deidara had blown up my Jashin-Damned head! I blinked. I didn't give a fuck about the kiss (Lies) but he killed me! I was shocked, hurt, angry….homicidal.

But wait a sec….how the fuck am I alive? I looked around and realised I was in the meeting room, Pein loomed over me and scowled as I got up, shoving him out of the way as I sulked my way across the room, sitting down on the far side. I didn't care. If this was hell I deserved it, if I was alive that was even better. I noticed the ginga grumble but he let it go, a wise move considering my cheeks could fry an egg right now. How could he? I thought he…

I brushed the thought away. There was no room for weakness anymore, not in a place like this.

I noticed Baxter was there, staring at the table passively. I tried to catch her attention but she seemed dazed, way out of it. I reckon Pein drugged her. I scanned the room more, nobody else was here, but I was sure I had heard two screams. I sighed, not that it really mattered but then I saw a lump move in the corner of my eye and I turned to see a mass of yellow hair lift slowly off the ground.

Deidara, I fumed.

**Ash POV:**

I was absolutely exhausted.

As we walked, heading for deeper cover further into the forest, Silestra started up a running commentary of everything we passed by. I appreciated the effort; she was trying to make sure I didn't pass out again.

I certainly didn't _want_ to pass out again. Blacking out doesn't lend itself to restfulness; in fact, I was even groggier than before.

Food was probably a pressing matter as well, but I had stopped thinking about my stomach several hours ago. Sometime around when I heard that scream. There might also have been an explosion not too long ago, but I might also have been hearing things.

"You know what?" I started, glancing sidelong at Silestra before shifting my gaze to stare up at a hefty tree, "I'm going to go up there, and I'm going to sleep, and if you hear something, I want you to howl really loud, because they're already going to know where I am and I don't want to be killed in my sleep."

Steeling myself, and gathering up all of my limited tree-climbing expertise, I scaled the tree trunk. I slipped several times and gained some painful friction burns on the pads of my fingertips, but eventually reached a height I felt appropriate and located a wide, sturdy enough branch.

"Sleep well," I heard drift up from the ground, and, rolling my eyes, I settled down for what I hoped would be a semi-restful sleep.

**Amber:**

I stared unblinkingly up at the slowly darkening sky. Since I was dumped on the ground by my apparent saviour – unwilling as he may have been – I hadn't moved more than a finger. Once the adrenaline and the initial shock of the fall and my consequent survival had worn off I realised that my body ached severely, all over. Muscles, bones, everything.

I couldn't move if I wanted to. In reality, I was a sitting duck, and in the middle of a war-zone too. I hadn't a clue what was happening anywhere else, and I couldn't hear anything past the ringing in my ears.

Helpful senses? Nullified.

Blinking away the moisture that was building up in the corners of my eyes I tried once more, futilely, to move without being racked with pain. As expected, the moment I tried to flex my leg the muscles cramped, causing excruciating pain. I wasn't used to bodily pain like this; I wasn't cut out for this _world_.

Maybe it was fun to watch from a distance; I wouldn't know, it was never my kind of thing. If I managed to get out of this whole thing alive I would never go near it again, on pain of death.

**Ash POV:**

I woke with a start, clutching at the tree branch with my legs to prevent myself from falling to the ground, and likely to my death – why did I climb so high up again? The sky was just reaching an acceptable darkness for early night, and I sighed, knowing that even though I hadn't slept for more than a few hours that I wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon.

Obviously, I deduced, the times didn't line up between here and home. My body had a very specific body clock, after all, and wouldn't allow me to sleep after certain times, regardless of wakefulness.

It wasn't much, not much at all, but at least I was no longer dead on my feet. Glancing down I noticed Silestra curled up at the base of the tree, probably sleeping. I wondered if she would have remained even if I hadn't requested she did.

Shifting into a more secure position I closed my eyes, deciding to do something practical while I was allowed a break. Sinking down into my mind I reached out for my chakra pathways.

Once again, it was easy enough to find, but I had yet to figure out how it worked. Obviously it wasn't as instinctual as simply knowing where to find chakra. There was some sort of _flow_ to it that I couldn't figure out, _hadn't_ figured out yet, but I wanted to master it.

Placing my hands in my lap I imagined chakra balls hovering above my palms, hoping that a visualisation might work better than trying for a feeling. Breathing deeply I attempted to clear my mind of everything except for what I wanted to happen.

I waited patiently, breathing steadily. And...

Nothing happened.

Frustrated, I lashed out with my fist, making a slashing motion through the air. Warmth rushed through my arm and a sliver of bark fell to the ground, sliced away from the branch by some unseen force.

Was that...?

"No way..." I breathed in astonishment. "Did I just...?"

**Ty's POV:**

Of all the places for me to turn up, it had to bea tree. I landed on a narrow branch, barely wide enough to stand on, let alone stumbling on. "Woah, shit!" I exclaimed out loud, clapping my hand over my mouth after realising how loud I was. Steadying myself against the trunk, I crouched down and peered over the edge of the branch. _Freaking hell!_ I thought. I've never even climbed up a tree this high, like ever, in my entire life, and here I was, high up above the ground (I am really bad at estimating heights so I won't even attempt to). I glanced around, trying to find a way down, at least to a more reasonable height. Finding no way down, I guessed that the only way to go was to a thick branch near to the one I was currently on. _Okay, here goes nothing, _I thought. Taking a deep, deep, _deep_ breath…I choked. Okay so maybe taking deep breaths weren't going to help. So I jumped.

I soon found out gravity loved me a little too much. I ended up clinging on to the branch with my arms extending up above my head, the rest of my body hanging in space. _Well this is awkward_, I thought. This was so not going well for me. _C'mon, up you go!_ I thought to give myself some self-motivation. After much struggling and huffing, I was crouched on the wide branch.

It was then that I felt a strange presence lingering nearby. I know, what a cliché right? I looked around, scanning the green foliage all around me. All perfect hiding spaces. I heard a high-pitched scream to my right and like any other 'normal' human being, I turned to look.

_Holy. Hell._

**Emma POV:**

I think, by far this was the strangest place I had ever seen. After I had landed in the area I felt around me, only to feel something soft….squishy almost next to my hand. I picked it up… "Muffins!" I shrieked and looked around. I was surrounded by muffins! I grinned massively and dived onto the ground, shoving them into my mouth like I hadn't eaten in years.

Then I woke up. Bright red eyes glared, glowing in front of me. I let out a high pitched scream and leapt backwards, my heel connecting with the sharp edge of his jaw. He reappeared again. I felt for the cross necklace around my neck in a panic to check it was still there, tracing the footprints that were patterned under my thumb. I felt light and weightless, as though the terrifying man in front of me was fading away. Then I realised he was, and I was floating, higher and higher into the air above. I screamed in excitement and shock as let go of my necklace, hands flailing for balance. Then I really started to scream as I began to fall back down. The red eyes flashed to the far side and narrowed before they disappeared. Just before I hit the ground I grabbed my necklace, terrified, and I began to fly up again in a fit of terror.

Blue sky faded away and then I hit bark as a tree branch blocked my way, my face throbbing in pain as I grabbed onto the branch and clung for dear life, necklace landing gracefully back where it nestled normally, the green ground spinning wilding below me. I swung my leg up and around the branch, easily manoeuvring myself onto the wide expanse of tree and straddling it as I looked around. I could fly! I grinned widely as I looked; the forest stretched off to my left vastly and darkly whereas on my right there was an open plain with cliffs rising in the distance. I thought I saw a figure as my eyes scanned the area but I figured it was my imagination and I went back to figuring out how to get down.

My tummy growled like a ferocious lion. Then I remembered the delicious muffins from my dream. The chocolate chip muffins were the best by far, but the raspberry ones were nice too… Then I heard Ty's voice in my head.

**Ty's POV:**

There was a figure floating in mid-air, and judging by that really high-pitched scream and the bright ginger (AUBURN!) hair, it was Emma. So _that's_ what her power was. Suddenly, she let out another scream, louder this time, and her hair flew up comically as she plummeted and suddenly flew upward again. Then she hit a tree, face-on. _Oooh, that must hurt._

I stared at a branch protruding from a tree to my right, contemplating whether I could make that huge jump and try to reach Emma. Then I remembered how I had felt the presence of Itachi's mind with my mind when we first arrived in this alternate universe. Closing my eyes, I reached out with my mind, trying to sense Emma's presence. _Bingo_, I thought, finding her thinking about "delicious chocolate chip" muffins. Typical.

"Emma?" I thought at her. I could see, or rather sense, her picturing those muffins in her head vanishing, replaced by horror.

"What's the deal with the muffins?" I asked jokingly. She flinched visibly.

"Just go away! I'm not crazy!" She yelled out loud. Even from this far away, I could hear her yelling.

"Stop yelling Emma, people will hear you!"

"What?" was the reply.

"Because people are trying to kill you! The arena, remember! ….This is awesome…I can hear what you say in your mind! My gift… well… It's called mind-power for a reason."

"But that's stupid. Why would they kill us?" Her tone was incredulous, and I could faintly hear her laughing out in the distance.

I was going to scream at her to shut up, but I figured the best way to do that was to explain to her what was happening, since she had clearly forgotten…as usual.

"Because it's Pein's big test to figure out who he wants in the Akatsuki."

"What's that?"

I sighed, "Didn't you look it up back home? It's a group of really, really evil people who try to catch monsters like the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto, to harness their energy."

There was a pause. I could sense Emma trying to understand. Then she burst out (not out loud this time, fortunately) "That's creepy! I hate them."

I could understand this but that was quite unreasonable, especially since Itachi was one of those people. I didn't want to think about him that way. She knew absolutely nothing about their situations. Which was exactly what I decided to tell her. Suddenly I felt a crazy wave of fierce emotions and rapid thoughts that I couldn't even understand. Her mind was obviously going crazy trying to figure out the situation. The vicious hatred I sensed worried me a lot, but it quickly vanished, replaced with relatively rational thoughts about how we'd get back. After this, I felt a strong wave of doubt replaced with a quiet but lasting confidence. I could hear her wishing for privacy, and I felt a little guilty. After a pause she asked, "What's happened to you so far?"

I explained about my tree climbing and how hilarious she looked when she was figuring out her flying. "What about you?" I asked her.

"That weird red-eyed guy that hangs around you was staring creepily at me, and something weird happened before that." _I hope she doesn't see the bruise I gave red-eyes... It was quite a good kick. _ I heard her finished contentedly. I realised she hadn't wanted me to hear about the bruise, and although I was upset, I didn't want her knowing I could hear everything she thought. I chose to ignore it. She continued, but the guilt I'd felt before intensified. I realised I needed to focus less on her to only hear what was intended for me. It took a bit of getting used to but I zoned out an eventually stopped tuning in to her mind for a bit as I tried to sort this out.

I began to listen again. "...a really cool dream!"

**Emma's POV:**

"Stop yelling Emma, people will hear you!"

I decided to listen to her. If it really was Ty, she would probably be right. "Why?" I thought in my head.

"Because people are trying to kill you! I can hear what you say in your mind anyway. It's called mind power for a reason."

"That's stupid. Why would they do that?" I laughed out loud.

There was a pause, and I thought maybe I was back to normal again after hallucinating. But then I heard her say, "Because it's Pein's big test to figure out who he wants in the Akatsuki."

"What's that?" I knew I was insane now.

"It's a group of really, really evil people who try to catch monsters like the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto, to harness their energy."

I knew what monsters were. But I didn't know anything about mutant foxes or Naruto, although I understood the energy stuff. "That's creepy! I hate them." I yelled to Ty.

"Don't hate them! And besides, you don't even know anything about this place." Ty mind-spoke to me.

That was true. I remembered the shocked looks on everyone's faces at the meeting, and my instinctive gut feeling that something terrible was happening even before Pein spoke. Finally I understood what was happening. I was absolutely furious. Pein would be forced to take us back, as cool as flying was, if I had anything to do with it. Then some sort of punishment cause harnessing energy isn't nice, so we might have to kill them. But if he honestly thought we would just kill _each other_ he was insane. I thought that surely friendship was stronger than stupid, stuck up, arrogant, selfish, cruel, weird semi-human freaks. Then I felt sad. I don't like hating people. Maybe once we got out of here we could forgive them... Then doubt flickered through my mind. I'd seen the way my friends were reacting to these men; well some of them anyway. But isn't friendship more important? Sisters before misters, right?

Then I remembered Ty could read my mind. I was quite annoyed at her for that. Honestly, you'd think that being all alone in a strange forest I might get a little privacy! Still I wasn't going to let this place get the better of me so I decided to be reasonable. "What's happened to you so far?" I asked.

Ty explained to me how she'd landed in the tree, and not much longer afterwards she saw me flying through the sky screaming. It sounded a lot funnier from her perspective than it had seemed from mine. Falling is pretty fun though; it would be the best way to die. It's like going sky diving but you just die at the end. But still! It's scary when that type of thing happens.

"That weird red-eyed guy that hangs around you was staring creepily at me, and something weird happened before that." She'd seen the rest of it. Although I wondered how she's feel about the purple and blue lump that had probably appeared on red-eyes' chin after I kicked him. They seemed a bit too close... "I had a really cool dream!"

"Something about muffins?" she asked me. She knows me so well! "Wait a sec, I can feel him heading my way."

I guessed she was talking about red-eyes. I looked around and saw someone standing at the bottom of a cliff, far away, but still too close for comfort. "I can see red-eyes! He's at the bottom of the cliff. Good, that means he can't get to us."

Ty laughed at me, "Yes he can."

"Wait…but how can he get up that cliff?"

"He can turn into ravens, literally…Hang on. I'm going to talk to him."

**Ty's POV:**

Sure enough, a few seconds later, a bunch of ravens darted above the cliff and next thing I knew Itachi was next to me. He put a hand on my shoulder in greeting and I felt my gut twist slightly in confusion.

"Why did you attack Emma with your gengutsu?!" I screamed in a whispered voice at him. I really _really_ wished I could all out yell at him, but given the current situation, I had to settle for whisper screaming. Not as satisfying as yelling would be.

As always, his calm expression gave nothing away and neither did his voice as he replied, "I was calming her mind. She would have been distressed otherwise. I never had any inclination to kill."

I knew it was a lie, but there was no use in arguing about it more. I cut away from Itachi's stare with a sharp look. Besides, I had to find the others. Baxter first perhaps, she had that hurt ankle after all. I hoped she was alright, I had an easy feeling when I thought of what could happen if I didn't get to her first. Zetsu would probably know where she was, the two seemed close and I had no doubt he was protecting her, so I figured to find Zetsu would equal to me finding her. I gently extended my mind across the miles of arena…Where was he…

**Emma's POV:**

"Ty?" I asked. But there was no reply. I wondered if I would have to actually team up with these men. It seemed like I might. For now anyway...But even if they tricked the others, I would never let them manipulate me. "I will always be watching them. I'm not just going to let them sneak around whispering to each other like they did before," I thought to myself. I'd tried to stay with Pein, but he'd gotten sick of me and brushed me aside. I chewed my lip, a mix of anger and betrayal swimming through my mind. If he did it again I would know better and go off and think about what to do next. Even if they got mad at me, it would be better than them hurting us like this again. "I guess I'll just have to try harder to get close to Pein. Obviously I can't suck up to _all _of them, but he's the leader. Might help."

Then Ty interrupted my thoughts. Along with red-eyes.


End file.
